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PARKS 


AND 


PARK  ENGINEERING 


By 

WILLIAM  T.  LYLE 

Professor  of  Municipal  Engineering  at  Lafayette  College 
Associate  Member,  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers 
Member,  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education 


FIRST    EDITION 

FIRST   THOUSAND 


NEW  YORK 

JOHN   WILEY   &   SONS,    INC. 

LONDON:  CHAPMAN  &  HALL,  LIMITED 
1916 


T 


Copyright,  1916 

BY 

WILLIAM   T.  LYLE 


THE  SCIENTIFIC  PRESS 

ROBERT  DRUMMOND  AND  COMPANY 

BROOKLYN.  N.  Y. 


PKEFACE 


IN  an  age  of  many  books  every  author  must  make  his 
apology  for  a  new  volume.  The  output  of  engineer- 
ing treatises  and  text-books  is  so  great  that  for  a  time  at 
least,  in  certain  branches,  further  additions  should  be  made 
only  for  very  good  and  exceptional  reasons.  The  author 
of  this  little  book  believes  that  by  reason  of  the  dearth  of 
information  on  the  specialized  subject  treated,  a  sufficient 
reason  exists  for  the  publication  of  his  manuscript,  which 
for  several  years  in  abbreviated  form  he  has  used  in  his 
classes  at  Lafayette  College. 

The  magnitude  of  the  park  movement  in  America  is 
only  beginning  to  be  appreciated  by  the  average  well- 
informed  person.  Our  larger  cities  already  have  their 
parks,  most  of  them  but  recently  acquired,  and  it  will  not 
be  long  before  all  of  our  American  cities  will  have  them  also 
—not  merely  a  few  small  city  squares,  but  extensive  mod- 
ern parks,  reservations  and  playgrounds,  connected  by 
parkways  and  boulevards. 

This  book  is  prepared  principally  for  the  benefit  of  the 
young  and  inexperienced  engineer  of  construction.  The 
author  hopes  that  it  may  be  found  useful  to  members  of 
newly  formed  park  associations  and  commissions;  and  that 
its  earlier  articles  may  be  of  help  to  public-spirited  men 
who  may  be  considering  the  ways  and  means  of  securing 
for  their  own  communities  the  great  benefits  which  flow 
from  an  ample  and  well-coordinated  park  system.  It  also 

iii 

337867 


iv  PREFACE 

may  contain  valuable  suggestions  to  engineers  and  others 
who,  though  not  trained  in  the  art,  may  be  engaged  in  the 
work  of  development  of  private  estates. 

While  the  master  mind  in  the  conception  and  design  of 
our  largest  and  best  park  systems  is  the  landscape  architect, 
it  must  be  understood  that  the  execution  of  his  general 
plans  is  peculiarly  the  function  of  the  engineer,  as  is  also 
the  design  of  the  engineering  features.  The  art  of  the  park 
engineer,  though  a  specialty,  is,  however,  not  a  narrow 
specialty.  He  must  be  proficient  in  matters  pertaining  to 
the  acquisition  of  lands,  and  be  well  versed  in  a  great 
variety  of  engineering  operations,  such  as  earth  excavation, 
masonry,  water-works  and  sewerage  construction,  road 
building  and  lighting,  and  occasionally  the  construction  of 
steel  and  reinforced  concrete  bridges.  He  must  also  be  a 
good  expert  witness. 

Wherever  possible  the  author  acknowledges  the  kind- 
ness of  those  who  have  aided  him  with  advice  and  informa- 
tion and  of  those  who  have  furnished  him  with  illustrations 
for  his  work. 

He  is  under  special  obligation  to  Mr.  John  C.  Olmsted, 
Landscape  Architect,  of  Brookline,  Mass.,  and  to  Mr. 
Howard  J.  Cole,  of  New  York,  formerly  Engineer  in  Chief 
of  the  Essex  County  Park  Commission. 

WILLIAM  T.  LYLE. 

March,  1916. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 
DESIRABILITY  AND  ACQUISITION  OF  PARKS 

PAQB 

The  Social  and  Economic  Need  and  the  Economic  Advantage 1 

The  Classification  of  Parks 6 

Actual  Results  in  Park  Development  in  a  Few  Typical  and  Impor- 
tant Cases 7 

Future  Probabilities  in  Park  Development 13 

The  Way  to  Obtain  Parks 14 

The  Organization  for  Work 14 

CHAPTER  II 
LANDS  AND  SURVEYS 

General  Requirements  in  the  Selection  of  Park  Lands 21 

The  Acquisition  of  Property 23 

Topographical  and  Hydrographical  Surveys 25 

CHAPTER  III 
DESIGN 

The  Architectural  Treatment: 

Requirements 36 

The  Engineering  Design : 

Underdrainage  and  Sewers 39 

Grading 51 

Piling  and  Bulkheads 53 

Masonry  Walls  and  Steps 57 

Water  Pipes  and  Fixtures 61 

Paths  and  Drives 62 

Lighting 72 


vi  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  IV 
LABOR  AND  CONTRACTS 

PAGE 

Day  Labor  versus  Contract  Work 74 

Two  Kinds  of  Contracts 75 

Advertisement 76 

Contractor's  Examination  of  Plans 77 

Contractor's  Calculations 79 

Sureties 79 

Making  out  the  Bid 81 

Submitting  the  Proposals 82 

Rejection  of  Bids 82 

Awarding  the  Contract 82 

Execution  of  the  Contract 85 

Payments  and  Extras 85 

Penalty  Clauses 86 

/• 

CHAPTER  V 

CONSTRUCTION 

Beginning  of  Operations 90 

Underdrainage  and  Sewers 90 

Grading . .  94 

Pile  Driving 107 

Masonry  Walls  and  Steps 108 

Water  Pipes Ill 

Paths  and  Drives 112 

Lighting 126 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Walnut  Lane  Bridge  over  the  Wissahickon Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Fig.  1.  Swamp  Land  May  be  Utilized  in  Park  Development 3 

Fig.  2.  A  Typical  Park  System 11 

Fig.  3.  Submerged  Land  along  the  North  River  Later  Filled  in 

and  now  a  Part  of  Riverside  Park 15 

Fig.  4.  The  Same  Reclaimed 19 

Fig.  5.  Gridiron  System  of  Survey  for  Parks 26 

Fig.  6.  Survey  Notes 28 

Fig.  7.  Topsoil  Stripping,  Piling  and  Grading 29 

Fig.  8.  Modified  Gridiron  System  of  Survey  for  Parkways 31 

Fig.  9.  Gauging  the  Discharge  of  a  Stream 33 

Fig.  10.  Topsoil  Pile 37 

Fig.  11.  Machine  for  Stripping  Topsoil  and  Grading 37 

Fig.  12.  Method  of  Providing  Underdrainage  for  Damp  or  Swampy 

Soil 40 

Fig.  13.  The  New  Bay  Ridge  Parkway.  Surface  Water  Carried 

in  Paved  Gutters 41 

Fig.  14.  Park  Walk  along  Steep  Terrace.  Paved  Gutters 45 

Fig.  15.  Method  of  Collecting  Surface  Water  from  Grass  Gutters. .  .  47 

Fig.  16.  Park  Walk.  Drainage  in  Grass  Gutters 49 

Fig.  17.  Method  of  Collecting  Surface  Water  from  Paved  Gutters .  .  52 

Fig.  18.  Timber  Bulkhead  Forming  Artificial  Shore  of  Lake 55 

Fig.  19.  Drainage  of  Retaining  Walls 55 

Fig.  20.  Sod  Steps 59 

Fig.  21.  Lawn  Hydrant 63 

Fig.  22.  Water  Crane. 63 

Fig.  23.  Design  of  Paths 66 

Fig.  24.  Correct  Entrance 68 

Fig.  25.  Incorrect  Entrance 68 

Fig.  26.  Rooter  Plow 83 

Fig.  27.  Wheel  Scraper 83 

Fig.  28.  Pulsometer 83 

Fig.  29.  Pile  Driver— Land  Machine 87 

Fig.  30.  Method  of  Giving  Line  and  Grade  for  Sewers 91 

vii 


viii  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Fig.  31.  Steam  Shovel  Making  the  First  Cut 91 

Fig.  32.  The  Same  Work  Farther  Advanced 95 

Fig.  33.  Dredging  at  Weequahic  Park,  Essex  Co.,  N.  J 101 

Fig.  34.  Dredging  at  Lake  Nokomis,  Minneapolis 105 

Fig.  35.  Muck  Excavation  at  Westside  Park,  Newark,  N.  J 109 

Fig.  36.  Muck  Excavation  at  Westside  Park,  Newark,  N.  J 113 

Fig.  37.  Pressure  Distributor  for  Sprinkling  Roads 121 

Fig.  38.  Pavement  Repairs  at  Boston 121 


PARKS  AND  PARK  ENGINEERING 

CHAPTER  I 

THE   DESIRABILITY  AND  ACQUISITION  OF  PARKS 

THE  Social  Need  of  Parks.  In  view  of  the  rapid  growth 
and  the  increasing  densities  of  population  of  our 
American  cities,  the  need  of  parks,  breathing  spaces,  play- 
grounds and  parkways  is  becoming  more  and  more  impera- 
tive. Compact  urban  development  has  created  a  need 
which  should  be  met  by  the  municipal  governments 
responsible  for  the  condition.  Our  cities  are  recognizing 
the  necessity  and  moral  obligation  of  providing  places  for 
rest,  recreation  and  wholesome  open-air  amusements. 
Excepting  in  a  few  of  our  larger  cities,  such  as  New 
York,  Brooklyn,  Philadelphia,  Boston  and  Chicago,  the 
movement  is  less  than  twenty-five  years  old,  and  even  in 
these  places  great  advances  along  new  and  better  lines 
have  been  made  in  the  last  two  decades.  With  new  con- 
ditions new  needs  are  born,  and  though  our  parks  have 
supplied  fairly  well  an  urgent  need,  many  of  them  in  the 
near  future  will  have  to  be  remodeled  in  order  that  they 
may  be  increasingly  useful,  not  only  for  an  increasing 
population,  but  also  to  each  individual  in  the  community 
in  need  of  the  health  advantages  which  it  is  possible  for 
them  to  offer. 


2        THE  DESIRABILITY  AND  ACQUISITION  OF  PARKS 

The  Economic  Need.  The  policy  of  delay  in  the  pur- 
chase of  park  lands,  if  it  may  be  called  a  policy,  is  certain 
to  be  an  expensive  one.  As  an  example  of  this  may  be 
cited  the  fact  that  for  three  parks  covering  less  than  ten 
acres  in  the  congested  portion  of  the  East  Side,  New  York 
recently  paid  more  than  it  paid  for  Central  Park,  which  has 
an  area  of  840  acres.  As  another  example,  Hudson  County, 
New  Jersey,  has  paid  for  its  parks  an  average  of  over  $3000 
per  acre,  and  for  some  property  acquired  by  condemnation 
proceedings  as  high  as  $23,000  per  acre;  whereas  Essex 
County,  adjacent,  has  purchased  3000  acres  of  mountain 
land  at  a  cost  of  only  $500  per  acre.  Compelling  the 
present  generation  to  bear  the  entire  burden  of  purchase  is 
not  advocated,  but  by  incurring  a  bonded  indebtedness, 
the  coming  generation  will  bear  its  share  of  an  expense 
which,  if  not  incurred  now,  will  increase  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  render,  in  many  cases,  the  purchase  almost 
impossible. 

The  judicious  selection  and  purchase  of  park  lands  and 
reservations  is  a  far-sighted  policy,  which  like  the  laying 
out  of  wide  streets,  is  sure  to  be  financially  profitable  in  the 
long  run. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  to  the  expert  that  some  of  the 
most  undesirable  lands  from  the  standpoint  of  the  builder 
and  real  estate  broker  are  the  very  best  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  landscape  architect.  Swampy  lands,  foul  water 
courses  and  steep  slopes  possess  great  possibilities  for  park 
development.  A  double  service  is  thus  rendered — pri- 
marily, the  construction  of  parks — secondarily  and  in- 
cidentally, the  elimination  of  municipal  nuisances  which  are 
frequently  of  a  very  dangerous  character.  The  foul  and 
unsightly  channel  and  its  surrounding  lands  are  trans- 
formed by  the  construction  of  sewers  and  the  proper  engi- 


THE  ECONOMIC  ADVANTAGE 


neering  operations  and  subsequent  planting  into  the  most 
attractive  of  parks,  the  channel  itself  providing  what  is  an 
especially  pleasing  and  refreshing  feature,  a  beautiful  water 
course. 

The  accompanying  illustration  shows  a  piece  of  swamp 
land,  almost  worthless,  which  is  now  a  part  of  the 
Weequahic  Reservation  of  the  Essex  County  (N.  J.)  Park 
Commission.  The  swamp  has  been  dredged  and  the  water 
level  has  been  raised.  It  is  now  a  very  picturesque  lake, 
surrounded  by  attractively  planted  uplands. 

There  are  in  almost  every  county  spots  of  natural  beauty 
which  it  is  the  duty  of  the  present  generation  to  preserve. 
The  national  government  recognizes  this  principle  in  its 
great  reservations,  among  which  are  the  Yellowstone, 
Yosemite  and  Mount  Rainier  National  Parks.  One  of  the 
most  unpardonable  losses  in  this  connection  was  the  cutting 
of  the  "  Sherwood  Forest  "  at  Philadelphia,  a  tract  of 
forty  acres  of  virgin  timber  actually  within  the  city  limits. 
This  land,  which  afforded  natural  advantages  of  very  un- 
usual merit  for  park  purposes,  passed  into  the  hands  of  real 
estate  operators  and  now  is  part  of  the  two-story  dwelling- 
house  district  of  West  Philadelphia. 

The  Economic  Advantage.  The  laying  out  of  parks 
increases  the  desirability  of  a  town  as  a  place  of  residence. 
Municipal  boards  of  trade  are  realizing  this  principle  in 
increasing  measure.  Park  development  enhances  the  value 
of  neighboring  real  estate.  New  parkways  and  boule- 
vards afford  very  desirable  frontages,  the  very  best  to  be 
had  for  residential  purposes.  Much  might  be  written  on 
the  subject  of  real  estate  appreciation  due  to  park  develop- 
ment; suffice  it  to  mention  here  only  a  few  illustrative  cases. 
Real  estate  operators  testify  that  the  increased  valuation 
in  the  vicinity  of  a  properly  regulated  park  will  very  soon 


6        THE  DESIRABILITY  AND  ACQUISITION  OF  PARKS 

pay  for  the  original  investment.  The  assessed  valuation 
in  1856  of  the  three  wards  adjoining  Central  Park,  New 
York,  was  $20,500,000.  In  1873  it  had  risen  to  $236,100,000. 
The  natural  increase  as  obtained  by  averaging  the  gain 
in  the  other  wards  was  found  to  be  $53,000,000,  making 
the  earning  capacity  of  the  park  for  the  three  adjoin- 
ing wards,  $183,000,000.  In  three  years  the  valuation  of 
the  wards  surrounding  Prospect  Park  in  Brooklyn  rose 
$7,000,000,  which  was  twice  the  cost  of  the  land  acquired 
for  the  park.  The  wisdom  of  the  "  Back  Bay  "  improve- 
ment at  Boston  was  certified  in  an  increased  valuation  of 
surrounding  property  from  1877  to  1885  of  $12,000,000  with 
a  corresponding  increase  of  revenue  of  $153,000.  During 
this  time  new  buildings  were  erected  to  the  value  of 
$10,000,000,  giving  a  revenue  of  $128,000,  making  the  total 
increased  revenue,  $281,000.  In  the  city  of  Newark,  prop- 
erty in  the  neighborhood  of  Branch  Brook  Park  has 
increased  in  value  to  a  marked  extent,  and  to  the  Branch 
Brook  development  can  be  largely  traced  the  great  popu- 
larity of  the  Forest  Hill  residential  section. 

THE  CLASSIFICATION  OF  PARKS 

A  convenient  classification  may  be  made  thus: 
1.  National  Parks;  2.  State  Parks;  3.  County  Parks; 
4.  City  Parks;  and  5.  Parkways  and  Boulevards.  The 
first  two  classes  will  not  be  treated  in  this  discussion,  since 
their  character  is  principally  that  of  great  reservations  of 
land  of  especial  scenic  and  natural  beauty.  County  Parks 
are  usually  more  or  less  developed.  They  are  suburban  or 
rural  in  character  and  are  usually  of  large  area.  City  Parks 
include  the  old-fashioned  city  square  and  the  modern  city 
park  whose  development  may  be  formal,  informal,  or  both. 
When  the  governing  board  is  a  county  park  commission, 


THE  CLASSIFICATION  OF  PARKS 


city  parks  are  classed  as  county  parks.  The  Parkway  and 
Boulevard  are  connecting  arteries  which  join  the  parks  of  a 
system.  The  Boulevard  is  the  more  formal  of  the  two  and 
often  is  nothing  more  than  a  beautified  avenue,  while  a 
Parkway  is  much  broader,  often  about  400  feet  wide,  and 
may  be  laid  out  in  a  semi-informal  manner. 

Another  classification  used  in  some  cities  is,  1.  City 
Parks;  and  2.  Outer  Parks.  The  City  Parks  are 
those  inside,  and  the  Outer  Parks  those  outside  the 
city  limits.  The  second  division  of  this  classification 
includes  the  reservation  lands  and  the  connecting  park- 
ways. 

The  accompanying  map  of  the  Essex  County  system, 
Fig.  2,  page  11,  shows  a  modern  and  scientific  park  develop- 
ment. But  few  of  the  original  parkways  as  planned  by 
Olmsted  Brothers,  the  landscape  architects,  have  been  laid 
out,  though  some  of  these  may  come  later. 

ACTUAL  RESULTS 

The  results  of  the  last  twenty-five  years  of  this  great 
movement  have  been  especially  remarkable,  though  a 
few  of  our  older  cities  had  parks  prior  to  1890.  It  is  out- 
side the  scope  of  this  book  to  make  a  full  statement  of  park 
accomplishments  in  America,  which  are  now  very  extensive, 
almost  all  of  our  larger  cities  having  caught  the  spirit  of 
the  movement.  In  order,  however,  to  give  some  idea  of 
its  development  and  magnitude,  a  few  typical  and  impor- 
tant cases  will  be  cited. 

NEW  YORK.  The  greatest  pioneer  work  in  America, 
though  not  the  earliest,  was  the  construction  of  Central 
Park.  The  land  was  purchased  in  1856.  The  total  acre- 
age at  present  is  840  and  the  price  paid  for  the  land  was 
$6,300,000.  The  total  amount  spent  in  bringing  the  park 


8        THE  DESIRABILITY  AND  ACQUISITION  OF  PARKS 

to  its  present  condition  is  over  $30,000,000.  The  park 
system  now  covers  several  thousand  acres  and  includes 
Prospect  Park  in  Brooklyn,  one  of  our  oldest  parks,  the 
Brooklyn  Forest  and  Bronx  Park  with  its  Botanical  and 
Zoological  Gardens. 

PHILADELPHIA.  The  original  plan  in  Philadelphia  con- 
sisted of  five  small  squares  to  which  Independence  Square 
was  afterward  added. 

Fairmount  Park  dates  back  to  1812,  when  it  con- 
tamed  five  acres.  It  was  enlarged  in  1855  to  forty-one 
acres  and  in  1867  to  its  present  proportions,  mainly  in 
the  interests  of  the  public  water  supply  drawn  from  the 
Schuylkill  River.  The  Park  Commissioners  were  able  to 
prevent  the  contamination  of  the  river  as  far  as  their 
jurisdiction  extended  and  to  exercise  a  wholesome  influence 
upon  the  Councils  in  the  matter  of  proper  sewer  construc- 
tion to  intercept  the  flow  from  the  river.  A  very  interesting 
report  made  by  a  Special  Committee  of  the  Commissioners 
oi  Fairmount  Park  upon  the  Preservation  of  the  Purity  of 
the  Water  Supply,  submitted  October  11,  1867,  and  sent  to 
the  author  through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Carleton  E.  Davis, 
Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Water,  and  Mr.  Thomas  S.  Martin, 
Secretary,  contains  full  information  in  regard  to  this  matter. 
In  this  connection  it  may  be  added  that  park  lands  may  be 
located  so  as  to  combine  the  park  needs  with  those  of  the 
water  department.  Several  American  cities  have  seen  this 
advantage.  Surface  water  supplies  as  impounded  from 
small  streams  can  be  very  satisfactorily  guarded  by  the 
acquisition  of  the  catchment  area  by  the  park  department. 
This  is  one  of  the  very  best  examples  of  municipal  economy 
that  can  be  mentioned. 

The  area  of  the  Philadelphia  parks  is  now  over  5000 
acres,  1000  acres  of  which  is  in  Wissahickon  Park,  a  beauti- 


ACTUAL  RESULTS 


ful  ravine  development,  one  of  the  best  features  of  the 
Philadelphia  system. 

The  development  of  the  water  fronts  of  the  Schuylkill 
and  Delaware  Rivers  is  under  contemplation  as  part  of  the 
general  city  plan. 

The  author  here  takes  occasion  to  acknowledge  the 
assistance  of  Mr.  Andrew  W.  Crawford,  Recording  Secre- 
tary of  the  City  Parks  Association,  who  has  furnished 
information  as  to  the  parks  of  Philadelphia  and  other  Ameri- 
can cities. 

CHICAGO.  The  movement  here  dates  back  to  1869. 
One  of  the  features  of  the  park  system  is  the  incorporation 
of  extensive  recreation  parks  and  playgrounds  which  have 
been  secured  in  the  past  fifteen  years. 

Preliminary  plans  according  to  Mr.  Walter  Wright, 
Secretary,  Special  Park  Commission,  are  now  being  pre- 
pared for  the  construction  of  a  great  outer  parkway  system 
which  will  give  Chicago  a  continuous  belt  of  parks  and 
parkways  around  the  entire  city.  This  work  has  been 
authorized  by  the  State  Legislature  subject  to  the  approval 
of  the  voters  of  Chicago,  which  approval  was  received  at 
an  election  in  November,  1914. 

BOSTON.  This  is  a  city  of  many  suburbs,  each  separate 
in  its  local  interests  and  government.  These  different 
municipalities  have  jealously  guarded  their  local  autonomy, 
but  have  wisely  united  to  provide  the  general  necessities, 
such  as  water,  sewerage  and  parks.  These  necessities 
have  been  secured  through  the  help  of  the  State  Govern- 
ment, which  has  created  metropolitan  commissioners  with 
authority  to  provide  them.  Each  municipality  now  has 
its  local  water  supply  fed  from  the  metropolitan  main 
lines;  its  local  sewerage  system,  discharging  into  the  metro- 
politan trunk  sewers;  and  its  local  parks,  secured  either 


10     THE  DESIRABILITY  AND  ACQUISITION  OF  PARKS 

before  or  after  the  appointment  of  the  Metropolitan  Park 
Commission,  which  provide  for  local  needs  not  met  by  the 
Metropolitan  Parks.  Boston  has  parks  covering  a  total 
area  of  500  acres;  Cambridge  has  developed  a  frontage 
on  the  Charles  River;  and  Lynn  has  acquired  large  tracts 
for  park  and  water-supply  purposes. 

The  Metropolitan  Park  Commission  consisting  of  five 
unsalaried  commissioners  was  created  in  1892.  Up  to 
the  present  time  it  has  purchased  10,250  acres  of  land,  of 
which  the  largest  tracts  are  the  Blue  Hills  Reservation, 
twelve  miles  from  the  State  House  and  easily  reached  by 
electric  cars;  and  the  Middlesex  Fells  Reservation,  five 
miles  from  the  State  House.  The  metropolitan  parks 
with  their  connecting  parkways  and  seashore  and  river- 
bank  reservations  form  a  model  system. 

ESSEX  COUNTY.  With  the  exception  of  Military  Park, 
a  tract  of  but  a  few  acres  in  the  city  of  Newark  and  a  few 
other  small  squares,  Essex  County  had  no  parks  up  to  the 
year  1895. 

At  a  dinner  in  the  city  of  Orange  in  January,  1894,  a 
plan  was  suggested  for  obtaining  parks  and  a  meeting  was 
soon  after  arranged  and  held  in  the  rooms  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  in  Newark.  Park  committees  from  Newark  and 
Orange  were  present  and  the  plan  previously  suggested  was 
approved.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  bill 
for  the  State  Legislature  which  was  promptly  drafted  and 
approved  and  then  presented  to  the  Senate  at  Trenton. 
It  was  passed  and  signed  by  the  Governor  early  in  May  of 
the  same  year. 

The  bill  authorized  the  presiding  county  judge  to  appoint 
a  Commission  of  five  persons  to  consider  the  advisability 
of  laying  out  a  system  of  parks  and  provided  an  appro- 
priation of  $10,000  to  cover  the  salaries  of  assistants  and 


ESSEX 


1915 


C/0/7/Y f?  flABO/N '. 

QAWLLI/<S  &  MDDFR 
ALOVZO  &tve&t  y&ZSSSS? 

JMflfYWLDS 


ZIKOS. 


Courtesy  Interstate  Map  Co.,  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  engravers  and  publishers. 
FIG.  2. — A  Typical  Park  System.  11 


THE   FUTURE  PROBABILITIES  13 

traveling  expenses  of  the  members  of  the  Commission. 
The  first  Commission  completed  its  work  in  1895,  after 
having  reported  favorably  to  the  plan  for  parks,  and  sug- 
gested a  practical  plan. 

A  new  bill  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  in  1895  for  the 
creation  of  a  second  Commission  to  be  appointed  as  before. 
This  bill  carried  an  appropriation  of  $2,500,000  of  county 
funds  and  a  referendum  clause.  At  a  special  election  the 
bill  soon  became  operative.  The  necessary  moneys  were 
obtained  by  county  bond  issue  by  the  Board  of  Freeholders 
and  turned  over  to  the  Commission.  Subsequent  issues  of 
bonds  were  authorized,  the  outstanding  indebtedness  now 
amounting  to  $6,000,000. 

There  are  now  five  principal  parks  in  the  system  with 
a  total  area  of  3200  acres,  most  of  which  is  mountain 
reservation. 

THE  FUTURE  PROBABILITIES 

The  park  movement  is  thus  observed  to  be  of  recent 
origin.  The  United  States  in  many  respects  has  passed 
out  from  the  period  of  mushroom  growth  into  one  of  com- 
parative stability.  There  are  many  evidences  of  this. 
Flimsy  bridges  are  being  replaced  by  permanent  masonry 
structures;  wooden  buildings  by  those  made  of  fire-proof 
materials;  cheap  city  pavements  by  those  of  a  permanent 
character;  railroads  are  being  straightened,  and  elevated 
or  depressed  where  they  pass  through  large  cities;  railroad 
property  line  fences  are  being  replaced  by  hedges  after  the 
English  custom;  and  far-sighted  business  corporations  are 
making  provision  not  merely  for  the  present,  but  for  several 
decades  to  come.  The  policy  of  municipal  wisdom  calls 
for  the  immediate  setting  apart  of  park  lands  to  be  paid 
for  by  money  raised  on  bond  issues.  This  policy  in  many 


14      THE  DESIRABILITY  AND  ACQUISITION  OF  PARKS 

cases  will  be  followed.  In  some  respects  it  is  along  the 
movement  on  foot  for  the  conservation  of  our  national 
resources. 

THE  WAY  TO  OBTAIN  PARKS 

The  methods  adopted  have  already  been  stated.     A  brief 
summary  will  be  given. 

1.  Preliminary  Agitation.     Public  sentiment  frequently 
crystallizes  in  the  appointment  of  a  park  committee  or  in 
a  resolution  passed  by  a  board  of  trade. 

2.  The  Creation  of  a  Commission.     If  the  work  involves 
several  municipalities,  as  it  usually  does,  a  bill  for  the  crea- 
tion of  a  park  commission  with  delegated  powers  can  be 
introduced  into  the  State  Legislature. 

3.  How  the  Necessary  Funds  are  Provided.     These  are 
usually  obtained  from  the  sale  of  bonds,  whose  issue  is 
authorized  by  the   State   Government,    the  indebtedness 
being  incurred  by  the  county  or  district  benefited. 

THE   ORGANIZATION  FOR  WORK 

The  working  organization  is  made  up  about  as  follows: 

1.  A  Counsel  and  perhaps  assistants  to  give  legal  ad- 
vice, to  attend  to  claims  and  to  examine  contracts  and 
agreements. 

2.  A  Landscape  Architect  to  make  selection  of  lands  for 
parks,  parkways,  reservations  and  playgrounds.     It  is  the 
function  of  the  landscape  architect  to  prepare  all  grading 
and  planting  plans  and  to  outline  for  the  Architect  (see  5) 
the  general  features  of  buildings,  gateways,  walls,  steps 
and  bridges. 

3.  A  Purchasing  Department  to  obtain  options  on  prop- 
erties likely  to  be  acquired  and  to  arrange  for  the  pur- 


THE  ORGANIZATION  FOR  WORK  17 

chase  of  properties  already  embodied  in  the  scheme  of  the 
landscape  architect. 

4.  An  Engineering  Department  consisting  of  a  chief 
engineer,  assistant  engineers,  instrumentmen,  chainmen, 
rodmen,  inspectors  and  a  chief  gardener  and  his  assistants. 
The  police  department  as  long  as  the  engineering  depart- 
ment is  in  existence  is  a  part  of  it.  When  the  work  of  land 
purchase  and  heavy  construction  is  completed,  it  passes 
over  to  the  Superintendent's  Department  (see  6).  The 
work  of  the  engineering  department  can  be  divided 
thus: 

a.  Property  surveys  of  lands  to  be  acquired  with  the 
accompanying  searches  in  the  office  of  the  recorder  of  deeds, 
and  the  preparation  of  property  descriptions  to  be  incor- 
porated in  deeds  of  conveyance  prepared  by  the  counsel 
or  his  assistants. 

b.  Topographical  surveys  prepared  for  the  use  of  the 
landscape  architect  in  the  preparation  of  his  plans. 

c.  Designs  of  sewer,  drainage,  water-supply  and  lighting 
systems,  together  with  the  design  of  all  the  essential  engi- 
neering features  of  walls  and  bridges. 

d.  The    preparation,    letting    and    supervision    of    all 
contracts  for  construction  work.     This  includes  the  direc- 
tion in  detail  of  all  construction  operations. 

e.  Planting  and  gardening  operations. 

/.  The  maintenance  of  the  work  until  it  can  be  turned 
over  to  a  Superintendent's  Department,  which  need  not  be 
organized  until  the  work  is  well  under  way  or  even  com- 
pleted. 

g.  The  policing  of  all  acquired  areas.  The  police  force 
consists  of  a  chief  and  mounted  and  unmounted  patrolmen 
with  sometimes  a  few  plain-clothes  men. 

5.  An  Architect,  who  prepares  detail  designs  of  various 


18      THE  DESIRABILITY  AND  ACQUISITION  OF  PARKS 

structures,    such   as  buildings,    gateways,   steps   and   the 
architectural  features  of  bridges. 

6.  A  Superintendent's  Department,  whose  function  it  is 
to  take  over  the  work  done  by  the  Engineering  Depart- 
ment and  carry  it  to  completion.     This  work  consists  of 
gardening    and    planting    operations,    construction    work 
(generally  by  day  labor),  and  the   ultimate   maintenance 
of  the  entire  system.     The  police  department  eventually 
is  transferred  to  this  department. 

7.  A  Clerical  Force  to  transact  the  work  of  the  Secretary 
and  Treasurer  of  the  Commission,  to  issue  permits  for  use 
of  playgrounds,  and  to  keep  open  office. 

8.  A  Title  Guarantee  Department.    It  is  customary  to 
employ  a  title  guarantee  company  to  pass  on  all  property 
transactions. 

All  of  these  departments  may  report  directly  to  the 
commission,  though  there  is  some  variation  in  this  matter. 


CHAPTER   II 

LANDS  AND   SURVEYS 
GENERAL  REQUIREMENTS  IN  THE  SELECTION  OF  PARK  LANDS 

IS  is  specifically  a  question  of  landscape  architecture. 

It  is  also  a  matter  of  common  sense.  Many  great 
mistakes,  though  not  chargeable  to  the  profession  of  the 
landscape  architect,  have  been  made  in  the  selection  of 
park  lands.  The  following  are  the  leading  requirements: 

1.  Parks  must  be   accessible.     City  parks  should  be 
so  placed  that  all  of  the  population  can  reach  at  least  one 
park  on  foot.     The  larger  county  parks  should  be  easily 
reached   by   carriage,    automobile   and   trolley   car.     The 
fare  on  these  car  lines  should  be  reasonable.     Excessive 
charges  should  not  be  permitted. 

2.  It  seems  to  be  the  modern  idea  that  a  park  system 
should  be  a  connected  system,  the  various  parks  being 
joined  by  parkways  or  boulevards.     This  is  regarded  as  a 
very  essential  matter. 

3.  A  park  should  be  located  with  regard  to  the  other 
requirements  of  the  territory  in  which  it  is  placed.     Central 
Park  in  New  York  City,  although  an  asset  of  inestimable 
value,  is  so  placed  that  it  cuts  off  two  of  the  main  arteries 
of  travel  running  north  and  south  on  Manhattan  Island. 

4.  Parks  should  be  planned  with  a  distinct  view  of  the 
requirements    of  the   population   to   be   benefited.      The 
problem  must  be  worked  out  for  each  individual  case.     The 
needs  of  the  entire  population  must  be  considered  with 

21 


22  LANDS  AND  SURVEYS 

regard  to  wealth,  culture,  nationality,  age,  sex,  density  of 
population,  etc.  Drives,  parkways  and  boulevards  will 
principally  benefit  the  wealthy.  A  fine  landscape,  beauti- 
ful architecture  and  opportunities  for  nature  study  meet  the 
cultural  requirements.  The  inherited  traits  of  people  of 
different  national  extraction  should  be  regarded.  The 
matter  of  age  must  also  be  carefully  considered;  while 
the  older  person  will  generally  expect  opportunities  for 
quiet  and  rest,  children  and  young  people  will  need  play- 
grounds and  athletic  fields.  It  may  here  be  said  that  the 
playground  movement  has  recently  assumed  enormous 
proportions  as  one  of  the  best  opportunities  for  civic  im- 
provement. The  child  should  have  his  swing,  sand  box 
and  wading  pool;  the  young  woman  her  tennis  court,  and 
the  young  man  his  baseball  field  and  out-of-door  gymna- 
sium. Where  the  population  is  dense,  the  park  would  seem 
to  be  the  only  solution  of  the  pressing  problem  of  rest, 
recreation  and  amusement. 

5.  It  is  a  fact  well  known  to  experts  that  lands  which 
are  poor  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  real  estate  operator 
are  often  the  best  for  park  development.  Low  and  swampy 
lands  which  are  usually  festering  spots  in  cities  are  among 
this  class.  A  very  good  illustration  of  what  is  meant  by 
this  paragraph  is  found  at  Philadelphia,  where  portions  of 
the  Tacony,  Pennypack  and  Cobbs  Creek  valleys  are  now 
on  the  city  plan  to  be  used  for  park  purposes.  These 
valleys  are  narrow  and  deep.  If  laid  out  in  city  blocks, 
the  grade  of  the  cross  streets  would  be  about  that  of  the 
sides  of  the  valleys.  An  enormous  amount  of  filling  would 
thus  be  required,  the  cost  of  which  would  have  to  be 
borne  by  the  city.  The  cost  of  this  filling  alone  would  be 
more  than  the  purchase  price  of  the  tracts  for  park  pur- 
poses. 


LAND   SURVEY  AND   PURCHASE  23 

THE  ACQUISITION   OF  PROPERTY 

The  Survey.  Before  lands  are  taken  over  for  park 
purposes,  a  survey  is  usually  made  by  the  engineering 
department.  This  is  an  easy  matter  when  the  boundaries 
are  well  defined  by  street  lines,  fences,  stone  monuments, 
hedges,  stone  walls  or  a  sufficient  number  of  blazed  trees. 
It  frequently  happens,  however,  especially  in  rural  reserva- 
tions, that  the  landmarks,  usually  blazed  trees,  are  par- 
tially or  entirely  gone.  In  such  cases  the  determination  of 
the  boundaries  becomes  a  difficult  or  impossible  matter,  and 
especially,  as  frequently  happens,  if  the  recorded  deeds 
contain  inaccurate  or  grossly  incorrect  descriptions.  In 
all  such  cases  the  matter  has  to  be  adjusted  between  buyer 
and  seller,  and,  if  no  agreement  can  be  reached,  the  ques- 
tion is  passed  upon  by  a  condemnation  commission,  to 
be  described  later  on.  In  purchasing  a  large  reservation, 
it  is  the  usual  practice  for  the  engineering  department  to 
prepare  a  large  map  of  the  tract,  locating  the  boundaries 
and  the  principal  topographical  features,  such  as  brooks, 
buildings,  etc.  The  surveys  of  the  individual  lots  and, 
when  surveys  cannot  be  obtained,  mapped  deed  descrip- 
tions are  plotted  on  drawing  paper  or  cardboard.  These 
plots  are  then  cut  out  and  fitted  together  on  the  large  map. 
Overlaps  and  underlaps  are  frequent  in  cheap  rural  lands 
and  occasionally  a  triangular  piece  of  land  will  have  to  be 
purchased  twice. 

Options.  The  policy  of  obtaining  options  on  property 
likely  to  be  acquired  is  a  good  one.  Property  owners  can 
frequently  be  approached  when  they  are  in  a  favorable  mood 
and  advantageous  agreements  for  the  sale  obtained  subject 
to  a  definite  time  limit  of  purchase.  These  options  may  be 
obtained  by  members  of  the  engineering  force  or  by  the 
purchasing  agents. 


24  LANDS  AND  SURVEYS 

Direct  Purchase.  Property  to  be_taken  over  for  park 
purposes  on  which  no  option  has  been  obtained  can  almost 
always  be  purchased  at  a  fair  market  price,  it  being  to  the 
advantage  usually  of  the  owners  to  sell,  since,  if  they  refuse, 
the  matter  can  be  taken  before  a  condemnation  commission 
and  a  forced  sale  brought  about.  The  cost  of  litigation  is 
sometimes  great  and  the  part  borne  by  the  owner  fre- 
quently a  total  loss.  Purchases  are  made  through  the 
purchasing  agents. 

Condemnations.  The  resort  to  this  method  of  pur- 
chase is  somewhat  rare,  since,  as  before  stated,  it  is  almost 
always  to  the  advantage  of  the  owner  to  sell.  Condemna- 
tion proceedings  for  park  lands  are  carried  on  about  as 
follows.  The  method  given  is  for  the  State  of  New  Jersey: 

1.  A  notice  to  one  of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court 
that  agreement  cannot  be  reached  for  the  purchase  of  the 
property,  together  with  an  application  to  said  justice  for 
the  appointment  of  a  condemnation  commission  of  three 
men  to  examine  the  land  and  make  a  just  appraisement. 
This  notice  is  endorsed  by  the  justice,  who  assigns  a  time 
and  place  for  the  appointment  of  the  commissioners. 

2.  A  notice  from  the  park  commission   to   the  owner 
and  parties  interested  of  the  previous  application  for  the 
appointment    of    condemnation    commissioners,    together 
with  a  copy  containing  the  affidavit  of  the  person  who 
served  the  notice   on  the  owner  and  parties  interested, 
which  copy  is  kept  on  file  in  the  office  of  the  Commission. 

3.  A  notice  from  the  Supreme  Court  justice  to  the  park 
commission  of  the  appointment  of  a  condemnation  com- 
mission together  with  directions  in  regard  to  the  notifica- 
tion of  all  parties  concerned  in  the  property  sought  to  be 
acquired.     This  document  also  includes  the  oaths,  before 
a   person    duly    authorized    to    administer   them,    of    the 


THE  TOPOGRAPHICAL  SURVEY  25 

condemnation    commissioners   faithfully    to    appraise    the 
lands. 

4.  A  notice  from  the  park   commission   through    its 
counsel  to  the  parties  concerned  in  the  transfer  of    the 
property,  of  the  appointment  of  the  condemnation  com- 
mission and  of  the  time  and  place  of  meeting  to  view  and 
examine  ^the  lands  and  rights  therein  in  order  to  make  an 
equitable  appraisement.     This  document  contains  the  oath 
of  the  notice  server. 

5.  A  report  of  the  condemnation  commissioners  as  to  the 
value  in  a  gross  sum,  of  all  the  interests,  estates,  or  shares 
in  said  lands,  whether  in  possession,  remainder,  reversion 
or  expectancy. 

6.  The  certificate  of  the  title  guarantee  company  as  to 
the  soundness  of  the  title. 

7.  The  deed. 

THE  TOPOGRAPHICAL   SURVEY 

Before  preparing  the  designs,  full  information  must  be 
obtained  of  all  topographical  features.  The  method  of 
making  the  survey  will  depend  entirely  on  the  character  of 
the  land  to  be  surveyed  and  also  on  the  probable  mode  of 
treatment.  If  the  tract  is  to  be  entirely  regraded  it  will 
be  well  to  make  a  very  accurate  survey,  which  can  also  be 
used  later  on  in  determining  the  amount  of  excavation. 
Thus  one  survey  may  be  made  to  answer  two  purposes  and 
much  time  and  money  be  saved.  The  method  of  making 
the  survey  is  a  matter  of  judgment  and  no  hard  and  fast 
rules  can  be  laid  down.  The  subject  will  be  briefly  treated 
under  three  headings:  Parks,  Reservations  and  Parkways. 

For  Parks.  The  survey  for  city  parks,  and  frequently 
for  reservations  also,  is  made  by  the  gridiron  method. 

The  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  locate  and  properly 


26 


LANDS  AND  SURVEYS 


monument  a  suitable  base-line.  This  base-line  may  be 
placed  on  one  side  of  the  tract  if  it  has  a  long  straight  side. 
Hubs  3  inches  square  are  driven  every  hundred  feet  and 
line  and  distance  are  marked  by  a  tack  or  small  nail. 
It  is  very  desirable  to  locate  this  base-line  where  there 
is  to  be  no  cut  or  fill.  Otherwise  it  will  be  disturbed  and 


Hubs  on 

this  line 

Q> 

no  cut 

or  Ml 

en 

I 

1 

o 

1 

°*+57.0 

Hubs  on  ; 

1 

o 
C 

- 

Hu 

bs  on  this 

line 

CMironSv^ofSwwitePvks          * 

FIG. 


will  have  to  be  relocated.  The  importance  of  this  remark 
cannot  be  too  strongly  emphasized.  An  auxiliary  line  of 
hubs  is  laid  off  at  right  angles  from  the  first  one.  The 
lines  at  right  angles  to  the  first  line  of  hubs  may  be  desig- 
nated by  letters,  thus  —  A,  B,  C,  etc.  The  lines  at  right 
angles  to  the  second  line  of  hubs  may  be  designated  by 
numbers  —  0,  1,  2,  3,  etc.  Thus  the  corner  of  any  square  in 


THE  TOPOGRAPHICAL  SURVEY  27 

the  checkerboard  layout  can  be  indicated ;  as,  C-4,  which  is 
a  corner  400  feet  from  the  main  base-line  and  200  feet  from 
the  auxiliary  base-line.  Also  any  point  whatever  on  the 
tract  can  be  designated,  as,  C +49. 3— 4+51.6.  If  the 
tract  is  a  square  one,  it  will  frequently  be  well  to  have 
monumented  cross-section  lines  on  the  four  sides.  If 
of  irregular  shape,  well-monumented  lines  may  be  located 
at  various  distances  apart,  such  as  1000  feet,  where  they  are 
not  apt  to  be  disturbed  or  covered  up  by  excavation  or 
embankment. 

In  addition  to  the  permanent  cross-section  lines,  all 
other  cross-section  lines  are  also  staked  out  by  stakes 
about  1|  or  2  inches  square.  These  stakes  are  allowed 
to  project  from  the  ground  6  or  8  inches  and  are  marked 
with  lumberman's  chalk.  The  letter  designation  is  marked 
on  one  face  and  the  number  designation  on  a  face  at  right 
angles  to  it.  The  markings  are  so  placed  that  if  a  person 
walked  from  the  beginning  of  a  cross-section  line  the  dis- 
tances out  would  be  visible  on  the  face  of  the  stake  directly 
in  front  of  him. 

After  the  cross-section  lines  are  all  staked  out,  the  level 
parties  begin  their  operations,  which  consist  in  obtaining 
the  elevation  of  the  ground  at  every  stake  to  the  nearest 
tenth  of  a  foot.  All  changes  in  grade  should  also  be  de- 
termined. All  topographical  features  must  be  located, 
such  as  streets,  buildings,  water  courses  and  trees;  also 
all  sewers,  water  pipes,  gas  pipes  and  wire  conduits.  In 
locating  the  trees,  each  tree  should  be  tagged  with  a  copper 
tag  |  inch  by  1  inch  with  a  number  stamped  upon  it.  The 
diameter,  kind  and  spread  of  each  tree  should  also  be 
determined.  This  information  is  very  important  to  the 
landscape  architect.  If  the  trees  are  very  close  together, 
as  they  frequently  are  in  the  woods,  instead  of  attempting 


28 


LANDS  AND  SURVEYS 


to  plot  each  tree  in  the  note-book,  a  table  may  be  prepared 
with  the  following  columns. 

FIG.  6. 


Kind. 

Diameter. 

Spread. 

Co-ordinates. 

Letter. 

Number. 

The  notes  are  kept  in  a  cross-section  book  about  6f 
by  8|  inches,  ruled  in  blue  lines,  ten  to  the  inch.  In  work 
of  this  kind  it  is  especially  important  that  the  date  should 
be  entered  on  each  page. 

A  map  is  then  prepared  on  a  suitable  scale,  depending 
on  the  amount  of  detail  to  be  plotted.  The  following 
scales  are  used;  1"=30',  1"=40',  1"  =50'  and  1"  =  100'. 
This  map  is  traced  and  the  tracing  forwarded  to  the  land- 
scape architect. 

For  Large  Reservations.  The  previous  method  should 
be  used  if  possible.  Since,  however,  no  grading  is  usually 
contemplated  except  for  wood  roads,  etc.,  and  since  it  is 
often  impossible  to  run  straight  lines,  the  method  of  survey 
by  random  lines,  as  nearly  straight  as  possible,  is  adopted. 
Side  shots  are  taken  by  angle  and  stadia.  This  method  is 
not  recommended  when  trees  and  other  details  must  be 
located. 

For  Parkways.  The  method  here  to  be  followed  is 
that  of  carefully  running  a  transit  line  through  the  middle 
of  the  ribbon-like  area,  placing  stakes  every  hundred  feet. 


THE  TOPOGRAPHICAL  SURVEY 


31 


All  angles  should  be  "  doubled  "  and  checked  by  the  needle, 
and  all  distances  should  be  checked  by  stadia.  Side 
shots  are  obtained  by  angles  and  stadia  distances.  This 
method  of  survey  is  not  as  accurate  as  the  gridiron  method, 
but  the  latter  in  its  simplest  form  is  not  adapted  to  park- 


V 


V 


7  +  00         1 


0  +  00 


IB 
•f 


Modified  Gridiron  System  of  Survey  for  Parkways* 
FlG.  8. 

way  work.  A  modified  girdiron  system,  however,  may 
be  used  when  the  base-line  instead  of  being  one  straight 
line  is  the  broken  line  of  traverse. 

General  Remark.  In  making  topographical  surveys 
it  is  sometimes  advantageous  to  sketch  in  field.  Work  of 
this  kind  is  usually  much  more  accurate,  especially  when 


32  LANDS  AND   SURVEYS 

the  map  must  be  drawn  in  minute  detail.  It  is  advanta- 
geous where  there  are  terraces,  trees,  etc.  Mistakes  in 
plotting  are  thus  avoided,  since  the  features  are  within 
sight  of  the  draftsman.  A  plane  table  is  a  useful  instru- 
ment for  this  kind  of  work;  but  it  can  be  done  with  a 
transit  with  vertical  circle,  the  draftsman  using  a  light 
table  2  feet  square  mounted  on  a  light  tripod. 

THE  HYDROGRAPHICAL   SURVEY 

Ponds  and  Lakes.  The  topography  of  the  beds  of  ponds 
and  lakes  is  obtained  by  the  gridiron  method  of  survey. 
The  depths  may  be  had  in  shallow  ponds  by  use  of  a  rod 
lowered  from  a  boat,  the  readings  being  referred  in  measure- 
ment to  the  water  level.  When  the  depths  are  more  than 
6  feet,  a  sounding  line  is  employed.  A  good  sounding 
line  can  be  made  of  sash-cord  with  a  colored  string  tied  at 
each  foot-mark.  Different  colors  are  used  to  good  advan- 
tage, the  number  of  feet  being  thus  readily  determined. 
A  sinker  will  be  required  to  hold  the  lower  end  of  the  line 
to  the  bottom.  Alignment  of  the  sounding  rod  or  rope 
may  be  had  by  means  of  rods  on  the  shore  or  else  by  transit. 
The  distance  is  obtained  by  stadia  or  else  by  alignment 
rods  on  a  line  at  right  angles  to  the  other. 

Brooks  and  Creeks.  The  flow  of  streams  is  determined 
by  use  of  a  weir  unless  the  flow  is  large.  In  the  latter  case, 
which  is  not  common,  a  current  meter  or  rod  float  must  be 
employed.  Fig.  9  shows  clearly  the  customary  method  of 
making  weir  measurements. 

Depths  over  the  crest  are  measured  either  by  a  car- 
penter's square  or  a  footrule.  For  measuring  depths 
the  hook-gauge  is  never  necessary  except  when  litigation 
is  probable.  Measurements  of  flow  may  be  made  twice  a 
day,  or  oftener  when  the  water  is  rising  or  falling  rapidly. 


Loaned  by  J.  &  W.  Jolly.  Inc..  Holyoice.  Mass. 

FIG.  9.  -Gauging  the  Discharge  of  a  Stream,  33 


THE  HYDROGRAPHICAL  SURVEY  35 

In  determining  the  discharge  of  a  stream  by  means 
of  a  weir  great  importance  should  be  attached  to  the  matter 
of  keeping  the  weir  crest  free  from  floating  objects,  which 
by  backing  up  the  stream  may  invalidate  the  readings 
even  after  the  brush  is  removed.  Weir  frames  are  often 
washed  out  by  freshets.  To  prevent  this  the  frame  should 
be  firmly  set  in  a  trench  excavated  for  the  purpose  with 
riprap  on  the  down-stream  side  to  prevent  scour.  Should 
the  weir  be  found  leaky  or  should  leaks  be  apprehended,  a 
little  clay  placed  on  the  bed  of  the  stream  against  the 
upper  face  will  be  found  very  satisfactory. 

Full  hydrographical  information  is  required  by  the  land- 
scape architect  in  his  preparation  of  plans  for  lakes  and 
water  courses,  and  by  the  engineer  in  connection  with 
excavation  and  dredging  operations  and  the  design  of 
outlet  sewers. 


CHAPTER   III 

DESIGN 
THE  ARCHITECTURAL  TREATMENT 

THIS  portion  of  the  design  is  the  function  of  the  Land- 
scape Architect.     It   is  embodied  in  the  following 
drawings : 

1.  A  general  grading  plan  usually  drawn  and  traced  on 
the  scale  of  the  topographical  survey.     By  superimposing 
one  tracing  on  the  other,  a  composite  print  can  be  made 
showing  the  cut  or  fill  at  every  point. 

2.  Cross-sections  of  drives,  paths,  terraces,  etc. 

3.  Various  plans  and  suggestions  as  to  masonry  work, 
bridges,  etc. 

4.  Planting  plans. 

The  Requirements.  This  book  is  not  the  place  for  a 
discussion  of  the  principles  of  landscape  architecture.  The 
work  is  done  by  experts  in  this  line  of  work.  A  few  of  the 
general  principles  are  here  suggested. 

First  of  all,  the  plan  must  be  a  suitable  one.  An  English 
garden  would  be  inappropriate  in  a  mountain  park  and  the 
informal  treatment  would  be  inappropriate  for  a  city  square. 

Second,  the  general  principle  of  harmony  must  be 
observed.  For  instance,  a  cut-stone  arch  would  be  out  of 
place  in  a  natural  ravine  with  wooded  slopes. 

Third,  the  design  should  be  suggestive.  For  example, 
the  idea  of  steepness  can  be  brought  out  by  planting  trees 
on  the  crest  of  the  slope. 

Beautiful  views  should  be  preserved  wherever  possible 

36 


Courtesy  Alonzo  Church,  Secretary,  Essex  County  ]Park    Commission. 

FIG.  10.— Topsoil  Pile. 


Courtesy  Austin- Western  Road  Machinery  Co. 
FIG.  11. — Machine  for  Stripping  Topsoil  and  Grading.  37 


UNDERDRAINAGE  39 


and  should  not  be  shut  off  by  trees.  Vistas  are  designed 
by  a  careful  inspection  of  the  topography  and  timber 
growth.  Free  access  should  be  had  to  all  parts  of  the 
park.  This  does  not  mean  that  access  is  to  be  obtained 
necessarily  by  the  construction  of  straight  drives  and 
paths.  Straight  lines  should  not  be  used  except  in  formal 
architecture,  where  they  may  be  entirely  appropriate. 
Many  unsightly  objects  outside  the  park  boundaries  can 
be  hidden  from  the  inside  by  the  construction  of  border 
mounds  with  suitable  planting.  These  mounds  are  very 
effective  and  are  extensively  used. 

THE  ENGINEERING  DESIGN 
UNDERDRAINAGE 

Wherever  soils  are  swampy  or  wet,  underdrainage  is 
necessary.  This  can  be  accomplished  in  two  different  ways: 

First,  by  the  laying  of  agricultural  tile.  Tile  is  made 
in  two  patterns — horseshoe  and  cylindrical. 

Horseshoe  tile  may  be  laid  on  a  line  of  1-inch  boards  or 
else  on  the  bottom  of  the  trench  if  it  is  carefully  graded. 
The  tile  are  frequently  2  feet  in  length.  No  coupling  is 
used,  but  a  piece  of  cheese-cloth  may  be  employed  to  good 
advantage  in  wrapping  the  joints  to  prevent  the  entrance  of 
earth. 

Cylindrical  tile  come  in  2-foot  lengths  and  are  provided 
with  4-inch  collars  or  rings  to  be  used  at  the  joints.  The 
sizes  commonly  used  are  2-inch,  3-inch,  and  4-inch.  The 
tile  are  porous  and  should  be  straight,  hard  and  of  uniform 
cross-section.  In  draining  lands  they  are  laid  in  parallel 
ditches  joining  the  main  at  45  degrees.  Y-connections 
can  be  purchased  for  the  purpose.  The  distance  apart 
of  the  trenches,  their  depth  and  the  size  of  the  tile  are 
matters  which  experience  only  can  satisfactorily  decide. 


40 


DESIGN 


The  determining  conditions  are,  the  kind  of  soil,  slope  of 
the  land  and  elevation  of  the  water-table.  The  thorough- 
ness of  drainage  is  another  feature.  Waring's  rule  is 
frequently  used  in  the  design. 

The  mains  are  of  porous  tile  up  to  4  inches  in  diameter 
and  above  that  of  vitrified  sewer  pipe.  If  the  line  dis- 
charges into  an  open  channel,  the  detail  at  the  outlet  is 


Vitrified  Sewer 

Method  of  Providing  Underdrainage  for  Damp  or  Swampy 
Soil.  Surface  Water  should  be  Removed  by  Inlets  and 
Catch  Basins  along  Upper  Sides  of  Paths  and.  Drives. 

FIG.  12. 


very  important.  To  prevent  injury  and  dislocation  to  the 
line,  the  use  of  a  12-foot  length  of  cast-iron  pipe  is  recom- 
mended. This  pipe  does  not  have  to  be  perfect.  A  piece 
of  "  seconds  "  can  be  used  to  good  advantage. 

Tile  drains  become  clogged  in  a  few  years,  especially 
when  in  the  neighborhood  of  willows  and  other  trees  which 
absorb  much  water.  But  the  drainage  process  still  con- 
tinues in  some  measure,  due  to  increased  porosity  of  the 


SEWERS  43 


soil  by  the  dissolving  out  of  soluble  matters  after  the 
laying  of  the  tile.  Furthermore,  the  land  will  never  be- 
come as  wet  as  it  originally  was  on  account  of  the  fact  that 
the  surface  water  is  rapidly  disposed  of  by  the  surface-water 
drainage  system. 

Secondly,  land  can  be  subdrained  by  the  construction  of 
stone  or  brush  ditches.  The  principle  of  action  is  the  same 
as  in  the  case  of  the  tile  ditches.  Stone  or  poles  are  placed 
in  the  bottom  of  the  trench  to  provide  open  space  for  the 
passage  of  the  water.  To  prevent  clogging  up  with  earth, 
the  stone  or  poles  are  covered  with  branches  or  straw,  on 
which  the  backfilling  is  deposited. 

General  Remarks.  Trenches  for  underdrainage  are 
usually  spaced  50  feet  apart.  The  depth  varies  from  1| 
feet  to  4  or  5  feet.  The  slopes  should  not  be  less  than 
say  0.25  of  a  foot  in  100  feet  except  for  the  mains. 

SEWERS 

Park  sewers  are  of  three  kinds:  1.  Storm- water  Sewers; 
2.  Sanitary  Sewers;  and  3.  Combined  Sewers.  The  methods 
of  design  and  construction  are  in  some  respects  different 
from  those  of  municipal  sewers. 

Sewers  are  usually  laid  along  straight  lines  as  in  mu- 
nicipal work,  but  the  great  expense  of  manholes  can  be 
saved  in  whole  or  in  part.  Park  sewers  seldom  lie  under 
pavements.  If  they  become  stopped,  the  trench  can  be 
reopened  and  the  obstruction  removed.  It  will  be  cheaper 
to  do  this  occasionally  (although  it  hardly  ever  becomes 
necessary)  than  to  go  to  the  great  expense  of  placing  man- 
holes at  every  change  of  line  and  grade. 

Park  sewers  are  of  brick  or  vitrified  pipe.  Sewers  larger 
than  36  inches  in  diameter  are  built  of  brick.  When  the 
soil  is  treacherous,  steel  or  spiral-riveted  pipe  may  some- 


44  DESIGN 


times  be  used  to  advantage  where  dislocations  might  other- 
wise occur. 

1.  Storm= water  Sewers.  The  peculiar  features  of  park 
storm-water  sewers  are  the  methods  of  collecting  the  water, 
the  methods  of  discharging  it  and  the  calculation  of  size. 

Methods  of  Collection.  In  order  to  collect  storm  water, 
inlets  and  catch-basins  must  be  constructed. 

The  inlet  is  merely  an  Opening  for  the  admission  of 
water.  It  consists  of  an  iron  grating  set  in  concrete  over 
a  6-inch  elbow  from  which  the  water  is  carried  by  a  6-inch 
chute  into  a  catch-basin  or  directly  into  the  sewer. 

The  catch-basin  is  usually  built  of  brick,  of  circular 
horizontal  section  and  surmounted  by  a  grating  to  provide 
for  the  entrance  of  rain  water  and  the  exclusion  of  sticks 
and  leaves.  It  is  constructed  about  6  or  7  feet  deep, 
4  feet  inside  diameter,  corbeled  in  at  the  top  to  a  diameter 
of  2  feet.  The  cast-iron  grating  is  rectangular  for  paved 
gutters  and  circular  for  grass  gutters.  Its  height  is  about 
8  inches.  It  is  cast  in  two  pieces — the  lower  part  provided 
with  a  flange  to  rest  upon — and  a  grating  to  hold  back 
obstructions.  A  catch-basin  is  provided  with  a  concrete 
foundation  about  6  inches  thick.  The  invert  of  the  outlet 
pipe,  which  is  6  inches  in  diameter,  is  about  3  or  4  feet  from 
the  bottom.  No  outlet  trap  is  provided,  the  purpose  of 
the  catch-basin  being  merely  to  catch  mud  and  gravel  and 
prevent  its  entrance  into  the  sewer. 

Instead  of  placing  two  catch-basins  on  opposite  sides  of 
a  path  or  drive,  it  is  often  well  to  dispense  with  one  and 
build  an  inlet  instead.  The  inlet  discharges  into  the 
catch-basin  and  the  catch-basin  into  the  sewer.  Should 
the  inlet  or  its  chute  become  stopped,  it  may  be  cleaned  out 
by  use  of  a  garden  hose. 

Catch-basins  and  inlets  can  be  placed  in  paved  gutters, 


METHODS   OF  DISCHARGE 


47 


or  off  to  one  side  of  the  path  or  drive  in  grass  gutters,  which 
will  be  discussed  under  the  heading  of  Grading.  The  dis- 
tance apart  is  a  function  of  the  amount  of  water  to  be 
carried.  Past  experience  has  clearly  demonstrated  that 
catch-basins  and  inlets  are  frequently  placed  too  far  apart 
and  almost  never  too  close  together.  A  spacing  often  used 
is  125  feet. 

If  a  sewer  carries  water  from  a  row  of  catch-basins  along 
a  drive,  the  sewer  should  not  be  placed  under  the  drive,  but 
rather  under  grass  or  shrubbery,  where  it  can  easily  be 
reached  in  case  of  trouble. 


Cement  Sidewalk 
Cinder  Foundation 


Concrete 
Inlet 


Method  of  Collecting  Surface 
Water  from  Qraas  Gutters. 

FlG.    15. 


Catch 
basin 


-Sewer 


Methods  of  Discharge.  If  storm-water  sewers  discharge 
into  other  park  sewers,  it  is  not  necessary  to  construct  a 
manhole,  as  is  done  in  city  practice,  providing  that  due 
care  is  observed  in  making  the  connection. 

If  a  storm-water  sewer  discharges  into  an  open  body  of 
water,  the  discharge  may  take  place  below  the  surface 
of  the  water.  This  means  that  the  outlet  must  be  of  special 
design.  Cast-iron  pipe  held  in  place  at  the  end  by  slope 
paving  is  sometimes  used.  Or  in  other  cases  the  sewer  may 
pass  out  through  a  shore  wall  which  holds  it  in  position. 

The  turbidity  of  the  first  wash  is  often  a  source  of 
trouble  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  the  pond  or  lake  is  rendered 
turbid.  The  first  washings  may  be  side-tracked  into  an 


48  DESIGN 


outlet  sewer  through  a  pipe  too  small  to  carry  the  storm- 
water  flow. 

Sometimes  where  there  are  springs  or  another  adequate 
source  of  supply  for  the  lake  or  pond,  the  entire  volume  of 
storm-water  is  passed  off  into  the  outlet  sewer  direct. 

Calculation  of  Size.  The  usual  methods  of  calculation 
are  employed.  The  coefficient  of  imperviousness,  however, 
will  be  low,  due  to  the  character  of  the  surfaces,  which  are 
mostly  grass}'. 

An  outlet  sewer  from  a  lake  need  not  be  of  sufficient 
capacity  to  carry  the  entire  flow  of  the  storm  if  this  flow  is 
admitted  to  the  lake.  The  body  of  water  may  be  used  as 
a  reservoir  whose  elevation  will  rise  slightly  at  time  of  a 
storm  and  the  surplus  water  will  run  off  through  the  small 
outlet  sewer  after  the  storm  is  over. 

2.  Sanitary  Sewers.     These  are  used  to  carry  the  flow 
from  toilet  rooms  which  are  located  in  shelters  and  pavilions. 
Such  sewers  are  small.     They  should  never  discharge  into 
park  lakes  and  water  courses.     Sanitary  sewers  are  gen- 
erally laid  much  deeper  than  storm-water  sewers.     It  is 
very  important  that  the  grade  be  flat  in  order  that  the 
depth  of  flow  may  be  as  great  as  possible.     The  minimum 
velocity  should  be  1.5  feet  per  second.     In  order  to  lay 
the  sewers  on  flat  grades  it  may  be  necessary  to  build  a 
few  drop  manholes  at  places  where  the  sewers  join.     The 
size  of  sanitary  sewers  is  6  inches  except  for  the  mains. 
Owing  to  the  impossibility  in  many  cases  of  obtaining  a 
proper  depth   of  flow,   say  one-quarter  of   the   diameter, 
flush  tanks  will  have  to  be  used  to  keep  the  sewer  free  from 
incrustation. 

3.  Combined   Sewers.      These  are  but  seldom  used  in 
park  engineering.     Occasionally  however,  where  a  sanitary 
sewer  is  available,  storm-water  sewers  will  be  connected 


r 


£ 


GRADING  51 


to  it,  thus  making  a  combined  sewer.  This  means  an 
enlargement  of  size.  Difficulty  is  often  experienced  in 
maintaining  in  dry  weather  a  proper  depth  of  flow  without 
flushing.  The  flow  from  these  sewers  should  not  be  dis- 
charged into  lakes  and  water  courses  unless  there  is  a  pro- 
vision for  removing  the  dry-weather  flow  to  another  outlet. 

GRADING 

The  grading  plan  is  prepared  after  a  careful  examination 
of  the  topographical  map  and  a  personal  examination  of 
the  site.  This  is  the  function  of  the  landscape  architect. 
Some  of  the  features  in  the  design  directly  affect  the  drain- 
age and  other  plans  and  will  thus  be  explained. 

Grass  Gutters.  Instead  of  allowing  the  sides  of  drives 
and  paths  to  act  as  channels  or  gutters  for  the  collection  and 
removal  of  water,  it  is  customary  in  modern  practice  to 
provide  grass  gutters  wherever  possible.  These  consist 
of  depressions  4  to  6  inches  deep  and  6  to  12  feet  wide  on 
the  sides  of  drives  and  paths,  running  parallel  with  them. 
(See  Fig.  15,  on  page  47.)  In  vertical  cross-section  the 
traces  of  these  gutters  should  be  curves  which  are  con- 
tinuous with  the  lines  cut  from  the  adjacent  slope.  These 
gutters  possess  marked  advantages.  They  intercept  storm- 
water  and  prevent  it  from  washing  away  the  surfaces  of 
drives  and  paths.  Since  the  flow  of  water  through  them  is 
gentle  by  reason  of  obstruction  by  blades  of  grass,  there  is 
practically  no  erosion  and  very  little  solid  matter  is  deposited 
in  the  catch-basins.  In  fact  in  designing  the  drainage 
system  some  engineers  dispense  with  basins  altogether  and 
merely  use  inlets.  On  the  lower  sides  of  driveways  and 
paths,  the  gutters  of  course  are  unnecessary.  There  are 
times,  however,  when  by  reason  of  the  steepness  of  the 
slope  and  its  close  proximity  to  the  drive  or  path,  grass 


52 


DESIGN 


gutters  cannot  be  used.  In  such  cases  it  will  be  necessary 
to  pave  the  gutter  so  that  it  may  carry  the  run-off  from  the 
slope  and  drive  or  path. 


•  —  —L\ 

J  

6  Sewer 

1                   [           J 

Method  of  collecting  surface  water 
from  paved  gutters  which  are  neces- 
sitated by  reason  of  steep  side  slopes. 
Inlets  not  satisfactory  on  account,  of 
large  amounts  of  grit. 

FlG.    17. 


Figure  13,  on  page  41,  furnished  by  Mr.  Cabot  Ward, 
Park  Commissioner  of  the  Boroughs  of  Manhattan  and 
Richmond,  New  York,  illustrates  the  proper  treatment  for 
drives  when  the  side  slopes  are  steep.  Paved  gutters  here 
carry  the  surface  water. 

Absolutely  level  fields  cannot  be  drained.  Slight 
depressions  or  slopes  should  be  provided  so  that  surface 
water  may  be  promptly  removed.  If  the  work  is  carefully 
staked  out,  these  slopes  and  depressions  need  be  but  slight. 

Lakes  and  ponds  should  not  drop  off  abruptly  at  the 
shore  line.  It  is  safe  and  proper  to  provide  a  shelf  at  the 
shore  line  extending  out  8  to  10  feet  with  a  drop  of  1^ 
feet.  Lakes  and  ponds  should  be  at  least  8  feet  deep  if 
possible.  If  shallower,  there  are  apt  to  be  objectionable 
growths  of  water  plants.  (See  Fig.  18,  on  page  55.) 


PILE  FOUNDATIONS  53 


PILING  AND  BULKHEADS 

Pile  Foundations.  These  are  often  necessary  in  quick- 
sands and  muck  to  support  bridges,  overflows,  etc.  Two 
kinds  of  piles  are  used,  timber  and  concrete.  Timber 
piles  will  answer  the  purpose  if  not  too  expensive  and  if 
they  are  driven  below  the  water  table.  The  soil  surround- 
iny  them  may,  however,  afterwards  become  dry  due  to  the 
construction  not  far  away  of  deep  brick  sewers.  If  the 
piles  dry  out  they  are  sure  to  rot.  Wooden  piles  are 
driven  by  the  familiar  "  land  machine/7  with  hammer 
weighing  from  1500  to  2000  pounds,  or  else  by  the  steam 
hammer.  The  latter  is  not  so  satisfactory  in  peaty  soils, 
due  to  the  presence  of  snags,  which  can  often  be  shoved 
aside  by  the  vigorous  blows  of  the  drop-hammer  machine. 
Wooden  piles  are  sometimes  jetted  into  place  by  the 
hydraulic  process  which,  it  is  almost  needless  to  say,  can 
be  used  only  in  sandy  soils  free  from  stones.  Instead  of 
sawing  off  and  capping  driven  piles,  it  is  better  to  make  a 
foundation  of  concrete.  This  is  much  cheaper  and  is  also 
stronger,  since  the  concrete  surrounds  the  piles  and  holds 
them  rigidly  in  position. 

Concrete  piles  are  also  used  and  may  be  of  the  type  that 
are  driven  or  jetted  into  position  or  else  of  the  type  that 
are  cast  in  a  hole  prepared  by  the  driving  of  a  metal  form. 
Concrete  piles  have  the  advantage  of  durability,  and  when 
reinforced  a  marked  advantage  as  columnar  piles.  They 
are  thus  especially  adapted  to  semi-fluid  peaty  soils. 

The  safe  load  to  be  borne  by  a  pile  is  a  difficult  matter 
to  determine.  Arbitrary  rules  have  been  employed  and 
when  used  by  experienced  engineers  give  results  on  the 
safe  side.  Considerable  literature  has  recently  been  pub- 
lished on  the  subject  of  piles  and  pile  driving,  for  which 


54  DESIGN 


see  Transactions  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers, Vols.  XLVIII,  p.  180;  LIV,  Part  F,  p.  3;  LXV,p.467; 
LXX,  p.  412. 

Bulkheads.  In  constructing  artificial  lakes,  it  some- 
times happens  that  a  part  of  the  shore  lies  in  an  unstable 
soil  which  cannot  be  excavated  without  flowing.  To 
construct  a  firm  and  stable  shore  the  following  method  has 
been  used: 

A  single  row  of  piles  close  together  with  every  fifth  one 
omitted  is  driven  along  the  shore  line.  Then  batter  piles 
are  driven  in  the  gaps  at  as  great  an  angle  with  the  vertical 
as  possible.  Unfortunately  with  a  drop-hammer  machine 
this  angle  cannot  be  made  greater  than  about  20  degrees. 
The  piles  are  then  all  sawed  off  at  about  1^  or  2  feet  below 
the  proposed  water  surface  and  a  wale  is  framed  into  them 
in  such  a  way  that  the  thrust  of  the  batter  pile  due  to  lateral 
movement  of  the  soil  is  transmitted  to  the  wale  and  then 
against  the  vertical  piles.  (See  Fig.  18,  page  55.) 

In  performing  this  work  of  cutting  off  the  piles  and 
placing  the  wale  in  position,  a  trench  must  be  excavated  in 
order  to  provide  room  for  the  workmen.  In  order  to  draw 
the  work  together  jack-screws  are  used  and  a  bolt  with 
suitable  washers  through  each  pile  holds  it  close  to  the 
wale.  The  wale  consists  of  an  8-inch  by  10-inch  timber. 
The  piles  are  notched  to  receive  it,  since  the  bolts  must  not 
be  required  to  take  up  much  of  the  thrust.  The  material 
on  the  water  side  of  the  piles  can  then  be  removed  by 
cable-way  or  otherwise  to  the  full  depth  of  the  lake. 
Good  upland  subsoil  is  then  dumped  in  over  the  piles  to 
reinforce  them  and  provide  a  firm  shore.  This  soil  of  course 
will  sink  down  into  the  soft  material  below  and  more  will 
have  to  be  added  until  no  further  settlement  takes  place. 
It  is  wise  to  fill  in  considerably  above  the  proposed  grade 


Timber  Bulkhead  and  Subsoil  Filling  to  Form 
Artificial  Shore  of  Lake  Excavated  in  Poor  Soil. 

FIG.  18, 


Street 
Pauement 


This  pipe  discharges 

into  city  sewer  at 

conuer.ient  intervals 


Method  of  Removing 

Ground  and  Surface  Water 

Collecting  behind 

Retaining  Wall. 


FIG.  19. 


55 


MASONRY  WALLS  AND   STEPS  57 

in  order  to  ensure  stable  equilibrium  and  then,  after  say 
a  month,  remove  the  surplus  material.  As  the  good  soil 
sinks  into  the  soft  material  in  which  the  lake  is  being  con- 
structed an  upheaval  of  course  takes  place,  which  necessi- 
tates further  excavation. 

In  order  to  provide  a  solid  bottom  for  the  lake,  1-inch 
boards  are  laid  loosely  on  scantling  and  covered  with  6 
inches  of  good  subsoil. 

MASONRY  WALLS  AND   STEPS 

Retaining  Walls.  It  is  essential  that  masonry  walls, 
whether  of  stone  or  concrete,  be  kept  dry.  In  order  to 
secure  this,  proper  provision  must  be  made  both  for  the 
collection  and  for  the  disposal  of  water. 

If  a  retaining  wall  is  backed  by  a  grassy  slope,  a  grass 
gutter  should  be  provided  to  intercept  surface  water  before 
it  reaches  the  wall.  Catch-basins  or  inlets  are  placed  in 
this  gutter  at  proper  intervals,  usually  about  125  feet,  and 
the  water  entering  them  is  carried  off  through  a  storm- 
water  sewer.  (See  Fig.  19,  page  55.) 

Ground  water  must  also  be  taken  care  of.  To  do  this 
it  is  well  to  place  broken  stone  behind  the  wall  to  act  as  a 
reservoir  and  passageway  for  the  water,  which  can  be 
drawn  off  through  the  wall  by  means  of  "  weep  holes  " 
spaced  from  15  to  50  feet  apart.  A  square  hole  in  the  wall 
about  4  inches  by  4  inches  in  cross-section  answers  the  pur- 
pose. Or  a  3-  or  4-inch  iron  pipe  of  the  kind  commonly 
called  "  seconds  "  may  be  used  instead.  The  first  method 
is  frequently  followed  in  stone  retaining  walls  and  the 
second  in  those  made  of  concrete.  The  weep  hole  may 
discharge  directly  upon  the  surface,  or  the  water  may  be 
carried  off  below  the  surface.  The  first  method  will  suffice 
if  no  path  or  walk  is  adjacent,  since  the  quantity  of  water 


58  DESIGN 


discharged  is  slight.  But  if  there  is  a  walk  near  the  wall, 
it  is  better  to  follow  the  second  course.  The  flow  from  the 
weep  holes  may  be  carried  below  the  walk  in  pipes  and 
discharged  into  a  street  gutter  through  holes  in  a  concrete 
curb,  or  the  pipes  may  discharge  into  a  line  of  agricultural 
tile  or  vitrified  pipe. 

Perfectly  straight  and  continuous  walls  running  parallel 
to  a  street  are  sometimes  extremely  monotonous.  Variety 
can  easily  be  secured  by  the  use  of  pilasters  or  buttresses. 

The  customary  rules  for  thickness  cannot  be  followed 
in  designing  low  stone  walls,  say  3  or  4  feet  high  above 
the  foundation,  unless  the  stone  have  true  horizontal 
beds  and  extend  entirely  through  the  wall.  Since  this  is 
seldom  the  case,  the  wall  should  have  a  thickness  on  top 
of  the  foundation  of  at  least  one-third  of  the  height.  The 
thickness  under  the  coping  should  not  be  less  than  15  inches. 

The  foundation  offset  should  never  be  visible,  but 
should  be  covered  with  a  few  inches  of  soil. 

Dry  walls  are  frequently  advantageous  by  reason  of 
their  cheapness.  Stone  uncovered  by  the  grading  opera- 
tions, if  of  the  flat  variety,  such  as  shale  rock,  is  excellently 
adapted  for  the  purpose. 

Steps.  These  may  be  of  stone,  usually  granite,  or  of 
concrete.  They  should  be  designed  with  broad  treads 
and  low  risers.  The  treads  are  about  14  inches  wide  and 
risers  about  6  inches  high.  The  exposed  corners  should  be 
slightly  chamfered. 

If  a  flight  of  steps  is  placed  in  a  curved  walk,  the  steps 
should  run  truly  normal  to  the  curve,  the  walls  at  the  sides 
being  either  continuous  with  the  path  lines  or  else  tangent 
to  these  lines.  Stone  steps  should  be  so  designed  that  they 
rest  for  several  inches  one  upon  another,  and  all  vertical 
joints  should  be  broken. 


Grass 


2x4  scantling- 


TRANSVERSE  SECTION 

-Tread 


Tread 


FRONT  VIEW 

FIG.  20.— Sod  Steps. 


"Q-round  Level 


59 


WATER  PIPES  AND  FIXTURES  61 

Cement  steps  should  be  finished  rough  with  crushed 
quartz  or  coarse  sharp  sand. 

A  very  attractive  flight  of  sod  steps  was  shown  to  the 
author  by  Mr.  G.  A.  Parker,  Superintendent  of  Parks,  at 
Hartford,  Conn.  To  prevent  the  breaking  down  of  the 
edges,  a  scantling  was  placed  at  the  face  of  the  tread  and 
supported  as  shown  in  the  illustration,  Fig.  20,  page  59. 

The  grading  above  a  flight  of  steps  should  be  of  such  a 
character  that  no  water  will  reach  the  steps.  This  end  is 
best  attained  by  use  of  grass  gutters. 

WATER  PIPES  AND  FIXTURES 

All  pipes  above  3  inches  should  be  of  cast  iron.  The 
smaller  sizes,  Ij-inch,  2-inch  and  3-inch,  are  of  galvanized 
wrought  iron.  Most  of  the  pipes  in  a  park  system  are 
of  the  smaller  sizes.  Much  expense  can  be  saved  by 
laying  the  pipes  in  shallow  ditches,  say  3  feet  deep.  This 
can  be  done  only  when  no  water  is  needed  in  the  winter 
time.  If  pipes  are  laid  in  shallow  trenches  it  is  imperative 
that  they  be  laid  to  grade,  and  that  all  low  points  be  pro- 
vided with  blow-offs  into  an  adjacent  sewer.  If  no  sewer 
is  low  enough,  part  of  the  system  will  have  to  be  laid  at  a 
depth  of  at  least  5  feet  in  places  whose  climate  is  like  that 
of  New  York  City. 

Water  pipes  supplying  buildings  must  always  be  laid 
at  a  sufficient  depth  to  prevent  freezing  in  the  winter  time. 

Dead  ends  should  be  avoided  as  much  as  possible.  The 
usual  gridiron  system  should  be  followed. 

The  hydrants  used,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  fire 
hydrants  required,  are  of  the  lawn  pattern.  The  ordinary 
lawn  hydrant  does  not  project  above  the  ground.  It  is 
provided  with  hose  connection  and  is  opened  by  a  short 
key  about  3  inches  in  length.  Occasionally  water  cranes 


62  DESIGN 


are  used  for  filling  water  wagons.  These  should  be  simple 
and  of  neat  appearance.  The  hydrant  shown  in  the  figure 
is  provided  with  a  valve  key  for  shutting  off  the  water 
below  ground  and  emptying  the  riser.  If  hydrants  are  set 
in  swampy  ground,  special  provision  should  be  made  to 
take  care  of  the  drip.  This  can  best  be  removed  by 
making  a  sewer  connection.  (See  Figs.  21  and  22.) 

The  water  supplied  to  parks  is  frequently  metered. 
For  small  consumption,  a  water  meter  of  the  disc,  rotary 
or  reciprocating  variety  is  used,  but  for  large  consump- 
tion a  Venturi  meter  of  the  self-recording  type  is  needed. 
This  meter  requires  the  erection  of  a  small  house  to  contain 
it.  Water  meters  should  never  be  set  in  wet  manholes. 
If  the  manhole  is  below  the  water  table,  the  soil  should  be 
drained  or  else  a  drain  pipe  should  extend  to  the  bottom  of 
the  manhole.  If  the  soil  is  usually  dry  but  occasionally 
wet,  the  pit  can  be  kept  dry  by  building  it  of  a  ring  of 
brickwork  1|  bricks  thick  and  thoroughly  filling  the  joints 
with  impervious  mortar. 

Drinking  fountains  are  placed  where  needed.  The 
water  from  galvanized  pipes  has  an  unpleasant  taste  when 
the  pipes  are  new,  but  the  disagreeable  taste  gradually 
disappears. 

PATHS 

Paths  are  surfaced  with  cement,  with  gravel  and  occa- 
sionally with  asphalt  or  brick.  Before  considering  in  detail 
these  different  kinds  of  walks,  a  few  remarks  will  be  made 
in  regard  to  (1)  the  provision  for  drainage,  (2)  the  shape 
in  plan,  (3)  wings,  and  (4)  entrances. 

(1)  Provision  for  Drainage.  Except  in  dry,  gravelly 
soils  it  is  customary  to  lay  cinder  or  broken  stone  founda- 
tions to  provide  drainage  and  prevent  heaving  from  frost. 
All  walks  should  be  on  an  incline.  At  low  points  provision 


FIG.  22. 


Courtesy  Ludlow  Valve  Mfg.  Co. 
FIG.  21. 
Water  Crane  and  Lawn  Hydrant. 

63 


PATHS  65 


should  be  made  for  the  removal  of  the  water  which  has 
collected.  This  can  be  done  by  providing  a  chute  of  agri- 
cultural tile  to  the  nearest  catch-basin  or  sewer.  Drain- 
age for  street  sidewalks  can  be  had  by  running  a  short  pipe 
to  the  gutter. 

If  a  path  is  close  to  a  steep  terrace,  it  may  be  necessary 
to  carry  surface  water  in  a  gutter  in  the  path  itself.  (Fig. 
14,  page  45.)  In  the  case  of  gravel  walks  or  of  cement, 
asphalt  or  brick  walks  with  gravel  wings,  the  gutter  may 
be  made  of  small  stone  blocks.  Inlets  and  catch-basins 
will  have  their  gratings  in  the  gutters.  These  gratings 
should  be  slightly  depressed  or  else  the  water  will  pass 
them  without  entering.  If  the  slope  is  steep  the  gratings 
should  be  placed  level  or  sometimes  at  a  slight  inclination 
against  the  grade.  If  the  walk  is  nearly  level  it  may  not 
be  necessary  to  pave  the  entire  gutter.  It  is  often  enough 
to  place  the  blocks  every  foot  or  two,  which  is  sufficient  to 
prevent  the  washing  away  of  the  gravel. 

(2)  Shape  in  Plan.     Park  walks  may  be  either  straight 
or   curved,  depending  on   the  nature  of   the   design.     In 
the  formal  garden  the  straight  walk  is  proper,  but  in  the 
informal  design  straight  lines  should  be  avoided.     Curves 
should  not  be  laid  out  arbitrarily.     A  curve  should  always 
have  its  reason.     This  is  afforded  by  a  natural  obstacle  or 
by  the  topography.     If  natural  obstacles  do  not  exist,  they 
can  be  introduced  in  the  design. 

(3)  Wings.     In  order  to  increase  the  effective  width  of 
a  park  walk,  wings  of  gravel  4  feet  wide  on  each  side  are 
often  used.     These  wings  may  have  the  full  cinder  foun- 
dation as  in  the  cement,  asphalt  or  brick  pavement.     In 
economical  construction  the  cinder  foundation  is  omitted. 
(See  Fig.  15,  on  page  47.)    When  the  paths  are  not  crowded, 
all  of  the  walking  will  be  on  the  middle  part,  the  wings 


66 


DESIGN 


Center  Line  to  which 


Path  should  be  Tangent 


The  topography  does 
not  call  for  the  aboue 
reversed  curue-nor  are 
there  natural  obstacles 
to  warrant  it.  The  walk  ' 
does  not  leave  the  street 
line  in  the  right  direction, 


Location  of  Path 
governed  bu 
Topography 
and  natural 
obstacles 


The  Path  is  Tangent 


to  this  Center  Line 


This  drawing  shows  path 
properly  placed.   Observe 
position  of  parti  catch 
basin.    Water  should 
never  be  allowed  to  cross 
a  path  or  drive. 


FIG.  23. 


PATHS  67 


being  of  convenience  in  passing  and  when  the  walks  are 
crowded.  The  depth  of  the  gravel  is  4  inches.  The 
gravel  should  be  of  such  a  character  that  it  will  readily 
bind.  It  should  be  of  suitable  color  and  its  surface  should 
be  continuous  with  that  of  the  middle  portion  of  the  walk. 
Crushed  stone  will  not  answer  for  this  purpose. 

(4)  Entrances.  Where  a  park  walk  joins  an  exterior 
walk  on  the  center  line  of  a  street,  the  street  center  line 
produced  should  coincide  with  a  tangent  to  the  center 
line  of  the  walk  at  the  point  of  entrance.  If  so  designed 
the  entrance  will  look  correct  to  a  person  driving  down  the 
street  toward  it  and  will  afford  equal  ease  of  access  to  the 
park  in  both  directions.  (See  Fig.  23  on  page  66.) 

Corner  entrances  should  be  so  laid  out  that  they  may 
be  equally  easy  of  access  from  both  street  cross-walks. 
This  is  illustrated  in  Figs.  24  and  25,  on  page  68,  the  first 
showing  the  correct  design  and  the  second  the  incorrect. 

Cement  Paths.  Interior  walks  are  crowned  in  the 
middle.  The  crown  is  of  two  kinds,  straight  and  curved. 
The  first  consists  of  two  planes  intersecting  on  the  center 
line  of  the  path;  the  second  of  a  continuous  curved  surface 
with  high  point  in  the  center  as  before.  The  first  method 
is  to  be  preferred,  as  there  is  less  likelihood  of  puddles 
after  a  shower.  (See  Fig.  15  on  page  47.)  Crowns  are 
usually  made  too  high.  A  crown  of  f  of  an  inch  in  a  walk 
8  feet  wide  is  ample  if  it  is  actually  secured.  The  impor- 
tance of  careful  staking  out  cannot  be  over-emphasized.  A 
little  extra  outlay  for  more  grade  stakes  will  more  than  pay 
for  itself.  It  is  in  this  connection  that  a  criticism  can  be 
made  in  regard  to  the  construction  of  our  rural  highways. 
In  the  effort  to  provide  thorough  drainage  most  extravagant 
crowns  are  adopted — crowns  which  frequently  endanger 
traffic.  By  the  employment  of  a  small  surveying  corps 


DESIGN 


Incorrect  Section  a-b 


Incorrect  Section  a-b     {] 


Correct  Section  a-b 

FlG.   24. 


FIG.  25. 


GRAVEL  PATHS 


in  the  construction  of  these  roads,  the  crown  could  be 
greatly  reduced  and  equally  good  drainage  secured. 

Exterior  walks,  that  is,  sidewalks  along  streets,  have  no 
crown,  but  are  raised  on  the  inside  to  provide  drainage 
toward  the  gutter.  A  slope  of  1J  inches  for  an  8-foot  side- 
walk is  sufficient. 

The  foundation  of  a  cement  walk  consists  of  8  inches  of 
cinders.  On  this  is  placed  3  inches  of  concrete  and  on  top 
of  this  1  inch  of  rich  mortar.  The  foundation  is  sometimes 
omitted  in  the  South  and  may  be  occasionally  omitted  in 
the  North  if  the  walk  rests  on  a  bed  of  dry  gravel.  (See 
Fig.  19,  page  55.) 

The  surface  should  be  divided  into  blocks  to  provide 
for  cracks.  For  an  8-foot  walk,  there  should  be  a  longi- 
tudinal marking  down  the  middle  and  transverse  mark- 
ings about  4  feet  apart.  It  is  not  wise  to  allow  a  smooth- 
troweled  finish,  as  then  the  walk  is  apt  to  be  slippery. 
A  rough  finish  is  better;  but  the  roller  finish  is  not  to  be 
recommended.  Little  advantage  is  gained  by  the  undula- 
tions in  the  surface  thus  made. 

ravel    Paths.     The  crown  should  be  a  little  higher 
than  for  cement  walks,  say  50  per  cent.  more. 

The  foundation  should  consist  of  6  inches  of  cinders  and 
the  gravel  should  be  4  inches  deep. 

The  selection  of  the  gravel  is  a  very  important  matter. 
Crushed  stone  is  not  to  be  recommended,  but  rather  a 
hard  rounded  gravel  with  cementitious  properties  similar 
to  the  famous  Roa  Hook  gravel  found  on  the  Hudson  River. 
The  gravel  should  of  course  be  screened  and  should  consist 
of  round  flat  stones,  not  spheres.  Gravel  of  this  character 
is  much  easier  to  walk  upon  than  gravel  composed  of 
spherical  stones.  Gravel  is  an  excellent  material  for  path 
construction.  It  is  cheaper  than  cement,  brick  and  asphalt 


70  DESIGN 


and  affords  a  very  good  footing;  furthermore  its  appear- 
ance is  less  artificial.  The  Roa  Hook  gravel  in  particular 
is  of  a  color  which  harmonizes  well  with  the  natural  features 
of  the  park. 

Asphalt  Paths.  This  form  of  pavement  is  but  seldom 
used.  The  crown  should  be  as  specified  for  the  cement 
pavement.  The  foundation  is  of  concrete  3  inches  thick. 
On  this  is  placed  a  binder  course  f  of  an  inch  in  thickness 
and  on  this  the  surface  coat  also  }  of  an  inch  thick.  The 
amount  of  paraffin-petroleum  residuum  used  as  a  flux  in 
the  surface  coat  should  be  a  minimum  in  order  that  the 
pavement  may  be  as  hard  as  possible. 

Brick  Paths.  These  also  are  rarely  used.  The  brick 
may  be  laid  on  a  concrete  foundation  with  a  sand  cushion 
between  or  may  be  laid  on  a  bed  of  cinders  leveled  off  with  a 
layer  of  sand.  The  herring-bone  bond  is  preferred. 

DRIVES 

The  crown  of  park  drives  should  be  very  low,  so  that  the 
full  width  of  the  drive  may  be  effective.  For  a  drive  40 
feet  wide  the  crown  should  be  about  9  inches.  Instead  of 
having  a  curved  profile  in  cross-section,  intersecting  planes 
are  recommended  as  for  paths.  This  permits  of  driving 
on  the  extreme  sides  of  the  road. 

Wherever  possible,  surface  water  should  be  carried  in 
grass  gutters  and  not  in  gutters  constructed  in  the  drive 
itself. 

The  effective  width  of  park  drives  is  frequently  increased 
by  the  construction  of  wings  on  both  sides.  These  are  made 
thinner  than  the  middle  portion  of  the  drive. 

Park  drives  are  usually  constructed  on  curves  rather 
than  on  straight  lines,  although  parkway  and  boulevard 
drives  are  sometimes  straight.  (See  Fig.  13,  page  41.) 


THE  MACADAM  PAVEMENT  71 

The  Macadam  Pavement.  The  telford  pavement  has 
been  but  seldom  used,  since  the  driving  in  parks  has  been 
light  and  the  heavier  telford  foundation  has  been  found 
unnecessary.  It  may  be  employed  in  the  future  owing  to 
the  increased  weight  of  vehicles.  The  park  macadam 
pavement  has  been  constructed  much  lighter  than  the 
municipal  pavement.  Its  thickness  is  6  or  7  inches. 

Heavier  pavements  are  now  coming  into  use.  The 
ordinary  water-bound  macadam  pavement  often  answers 
very  well.  Its  cost  is  low  and  it  affords  a  good  foothold 
for  horses.  Where  automobile  traffic  is  heavy  it  will 
be  necessary  to  treat  the  surface  by  the  usual  methods 
with  crude  petroleum,  asphalt  road  oil  or  other  preparation 
described  at  length  in  modern  treatises  on  pavements. 
Bituminous  concretes  are  giving  excellent  results  for  park 
pavements.  Calcium  chloride  has  met  with  some  success 
in  the  East  as  a  dust  palliative. 

Heavier  pavements  will  be  used  in  the  future.  The 
macadam  pavement  as  heretofore  constructed  serves  very 
well  for  carriage  driving,  but  must  now  be  treated  with  crude 
petroleum,  tarvia,  asphalt  road  oil  or  other  similar  prep- 
aration if  heavy  traffic  is  anticipated. 

The  Brick  Pavement.  This  pavement  possesses  marked 
advantages  in  durability,  but  has  the  drawback  of  being 
noisy  under  horses'  hoofs  and  steel  tires.  It  has  been  used 
at  Indianapolis  for  the  construction  of  an  automobile 
speedway.  It  is  a  more  expensive  form  of  pavement  than 
the  macadam,  but  is  permanent.  The  maintenance  charges 
for  this  style  of  pavement  are  very  low. 

Curb.  Brick  drives  are  always  lined  with  curb  and 
macadam  pavements  are  occasionally.  For  brick  pave- 
ments the  curb  may  be  either  raised  or  flush  with  the 
surface.  In  the  case  of  macadam  pavements  it  is  always 


72  DESIGN 


raised.  If  the  curb  is  raised  the  water  must  be  carried 
in  gutters.  Curb  used  in  park  work  is  most  generally  of 
the  curved  variety  and  is  very  handsome  when  carefully  laid, 
but  extremely  ugly  when  not.  It  is  almost  needless  to  say 
that  curved  curb  is  very  expensive.  Blue  stone  is  a  good 
material  to  use.  Curved  curb  can  be  made  of  concrete 
with  gutter  of  the  same  material.  There  is  no  good  reason 
why  curved  concrete  curb  should  not  present  an  excellent 
appearance.  This  means  that  the  engineer  in  charge  of 
the  work  shall  be  a  man  of  good  judgment  in  laying  out 
curves.  Stakes  should  be  set  not  farther  than  50  feet 
apart.  The  adjustment  of  the  scantling  which  are  used  as 
forms  for  casting  the  curb  can  be  done  by  the  eye.  Con- 
siderable readjustment  of  the  scantling  back  and  forth 
may  be  necessary  to  secure  the  best  results. 

LIGHTING 

Various  systems  are  used  and  all  have  their  merits. 
They  are,  1.  Electric  Light;  2.  Gas;  3.  Acetylene;  and  4. 
Gasoline.  The  lighting  system  should  be  as  inconspicuous 
as  possible  and  all  standards  and  lights  should  be  in  keep- 
ing with  the  surroundings. 

1.  Electric  Light.  This  method  of  lighting  is  the  most 
common.  All  wires  must  be  out  of  view.  They  are  car- 
ried underground  in  lead  conduits.  The  lights  may  be 
of  the  enclosed  arc  or  the  incandescent  type — the  former 
are  usually  preferred.  Various  kinds  of  ornamental  iron 
posts  are  used,  the  wires  being  carried  up  inside  the  post. 

Either  direct  or  alternating  current  may  be  employed, 
whichever  is  available.  If  the  park  is  at  some  distance 
from  the  supply,  the  alternating  current  will  be  found  to 
be  cheaper. 

It  is  usual  to  provide  distribution  stations  where  the 


LIGHTING  73 


current  enters  the  park,  so  that  in  case  of  accident,  the 
entire  park  will  not  be  thrown  into  darkness. 

Arc  and  incandescent  lights  may  be  connected  either  in 
multiple  or  series.  It  is  possible  to  use  both  kinds  of  lights 
on  the  same  circuit. 

The  multiple  system  of  wiring  is  generally  preferred, 
especially  when  the  number  of  lights  is  large,  inasmuch  as 
it  is  safer  than  the  series  system.  The  voltage  commonly 
employed  for  multiple  wiring  is  110,  though  it  may  be  220 
and  even  550,  as  in  the  case  of  a  park  illuminated  by  a 
trolley  current.  Willow  Grove  Park  near  Philadelphia  is 
an  example.  To  determine  the  voltage  required  for  an  arc 
light  circuit  in  series,  the  rule  is  to  multiply  the  voltage  of 
each  light,  which  is  about  80,  by  the  number  of  lights. 
Series  wiring  is  frequently  employed  in  small  city  squares. 

2.  Gas.  The  plain  jet  does  not  give  sufficient  illumina- 
tion.    Lights  with  mantles  give  a  bright  and  satisfactory 
light.     Gas  can  be  used  to  advantage  in  districts  where 
the  price  is  low,  as  in  the  natural-gas  belt.     Gas  mains 
should  never  be  laid  near  trees  and  shrubbery.     Leakage 
of  gas  exerts  a  very  harmful  effect  on  vegetable  life. 

3.  Acetylene.     This  gives  a  brilliant   and   satisfactory 
interior  light,  but  is  seldom  used  in  park  lighting  by  reason 
of  the  expense.     The  acetylene  gas  is  piped  in  wrought-iron 
pipes. 

4.  Gasoline.     Gasoline  lighting  is  cheap  and  satisfactory 
in  several  respects.     The  great  drawback  lies  in  time  con- 
sumed in  igniting  the  lamps.     Each  lamp  is  provided  with 
a  mantle,  and  a  torch  must  be  used  to  vaporize  the  gasoline. 


CHAPTER   IV 

LABOR   AND   CONTRACTS 
DAY  LABOR  VERSUS  CONTRACT  WORK 

THIS  is  a  broad  question.  A  few  general  remarks, 
however,  can  be  made  in  this  connection  which  may 
be  of  service. 

Park  work  involving  the  use  of  elaborate  machinery  can 
be  done  cheaper  by  contract.  This  applies  to  such  opera- 
tions as  steam-shovel  work,  pile  driving,  bridge  construc- 
tion and  the  erection  of  large  buildings. 

Grading  work  and  masonry  construction  can  generally 
be  done  cheaper  by  contract,  as  can  sewer  construction  and 
the  laying  of  water  pipe. 

The  smoothing  of  the  topsoil  and  its  preparation  for 
planting  should  be  done  by  day  labor  if  a  well-organized 
superintendent's  force  can  be  gotten  together.  All  garden- 
ing operations  can  be  done  much  more  satisfactorily  by 
day  labor. 

Occasionally,  however,  some  of  the  heavier  engineering 
operations  may  be  executed  by  day  labor  under  good  organ- 
ization. Grading,  path  and  drive  construction,  and  even 
light  masonry  work  have  been  done  in  this  way. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  among  contractors  that  they  can 
get  much  more  work  out  of  men  than  can  municipal  and 
park  departments.  The  reason  is  obvious.  The  contract- 
ing firm  is  better  organized — usually  with  one  man  at  the 
head  who  gains  or  loses  financially  on  each  contract.  A 
laborer  who  is  inefficient  is  immediately  discharged. 

74 


TWO   KINDS  OF  CONTRACTS  75 

By  the  other  method,  the  work  could  be  carried  on 
satisfactorily  if  the  foreman  were  free  to  discharge  an 
inefficient  workman.  But  this  often  is  not  the  case,  and 
the  foremen  themselves  are  frequently  employed  on  the 
recommendation  of  some  official  or  prominent  citizen. 

Nevertheless  the  day  labor  method  is  coming  more 
and  more  into  vogue  and  appears  to  be  giving  good  results 
when  politics  can  be  eliminated,  as  is  often  the  case.  The 
claim  is  made  that  the  work  can  be  done  cheaper  by  day 
labor  than  by  contract,  since  by  the  former  method  there 
is  no  profit  to  be  included.  Furthermore  the  park  superin- 
tendent, by  offering  permanent  employment  in  one  locality, 
is  able  to  attract  to  his  force  a  class  of  steady  labor  to  whom 
the  contractor's  inducements  do  not  so  strongly  appeal. 

TWO  KINDS   OF  CONTRACTS 

Park  contracts  are  let  either  by  the  lump-sum  or  by 
the  unit  system. 

1.  The  Lump-sum  System.     By  this    method  but  one 
price  is  stated  in  the  bid;   namely,  the  cost  for  the  entire 
work.     This  system  is  inelastic,  but  is  used  when  the  work 
in  exact  nature  and  amount  is  fully  known  before  the  con- 
tract is  let.     If  the  work  is  not  fully  known  beforehand 
there  will  surely  be  claims  for  extras  on  the  part  of  the  con- 
tractor. 

2.  The    Unit    System.     This    is    the    method    usually 
employed  in  engineering.     The  work  to  be  done  is  divided 
into  different  parts,  such  as  earth  excavation,  sewers,  cast 
iron,  macadam  pavements,  etc.     Approximate  figures  rep- 
resenting the  amount  of  work  to  be  done  under  each  item 
are  stated  beforehand  and  each  bidder  submits  his  bid  on 
the  price  per  cubic  yard  of  earth  excavation,  the  price  per 
lineal  foot  of  sewers,  the  price  per  pound  of  cast  iron,  the 


76  LABOR  AND  CONTRACTS 

price  per  square  yard  of  macadam  pavement  laid  complete, 
etc.,  basing  his  total  estimate  on  the  above  approximate 
estimate  as  given  by  the  engineer.  This  system  is  elastic. 
The  amounts  of  work  under  each  heading  can  be  increased 
or  decreased,  although  not  indefinitely.  The  increase  or 
decrease  permitted  is  usually  not  more  than  20  per  cent. 
If  a  contractor  has  bid  low  on  earth  excavation  and  high 
on  sewers,  he  naturally  would  object  to  the  amount  of 
earth  excavation  being  greatly  increased  or  the  lineal  feet 
of  sewers  greatly  reduced.  Under  the  unit  system  it  is  not 
necessary  to  prepare  complete  plans  of  the  work  before  it 
is  begun. 

METHOD   OF  PROCEDURE 

In  contemplating  the  execution  of  a  piece  of  engineer- 
ing work,  three  questions  must  be  decided  by  the  board 
or  commission  having  power.  These  are,  first,  What  will 
be  the  cost?  second,  Is  it  advisable  to  do  it?  and  third, 
Shall  it  be  done  by  day  labor  or  by  contract? 

In  determining  the  first  question  the  engineer  is  con- 
sulted and  asked  for  a  report  on  the  cost.  This  report 
may  be  made  immediately  in  some  cases,  but  in  others 
considerable  time  may  be  required  for  its  preparation. 

After  knowing  the  cost,  the  advisability  of  doing  the 
work  is  discussed  and  a  decision  arrived  at. 

The  question  as  to  whether  the  work  shall  be  done  by 
day  labor  or  by  contract  is  usually  referred  to  the  engineer. 

THE   ADVERTISEMENT 

An  advertisement  of  the  work  is  inserted  in  the  local 
papers  and  sometimes  in  one  or  two  of  the  leading  technical 
journals.  Unless  the  contract  is  to  be  let  by  the  lump  sum, 
the  amounts  of  all  the  items  are  stated.  The  advertisement 


THE  CONTRACTOR'S  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  PLANS     77 

also  states  the  time  and  place  for  receiving  bids  and  the 
amount  of  the  proposal  bond. 

THE  CONTRACTOR'S  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  PLANS 

If  the  contract  is  a  lump-sum  contract  the  plans  must 
be  complete  and  perfect  in  every  detail.  If  a  unit-system 
contract,  it  is  not  necessary  that  the  plans  be  entirely  com- 
plete. 

These  plans  are  usually  blue-printed  and  prints  are 
sometimes  furnished  to  prospective  bidders  either  free  or 
for  a  deposit  which  is  returned  when  the  prints  are  returned. 
Sometimes  no  prints  are  furnished  for  distribution  and 
prospective  bidders  are  required  to  examine  the  plans  in 
the  office  of  the  board  or  commission.  Then  again  blue- 
prints are  made  on  a  reduced  scale  and  are  furnished 
free  in  booklet  form  to  all  responsible  applicants.  This 
method  is  up  to  date,  convenient  and  cheap.  Should 
any  parts  of  the  prints  be  too  small  to  be  perfectly  in- 
telligible, the  full-size  drawings  can  be  examined  at  the 
office.  The  scales  on  all  drawings  which  are  to  be 
reduced  by  photography  must  be  graphical  scales  so  that 
they  may  be  reduced  in  the  same  ratio  as  any  line  on  the 
drawing. 

It  is  advisable  to  furnish  prospective  bidders  with  full 
information  in  regard  to  the  work.  This  will  reduce  the 
amounts  of  the  bids.  It  is  the  universal  practice  of  bidders 
to  raise  their  bids  where  the  element  of  uncertainty  enters 
in.  For  this  reason  in  sewer  work  it  is  advisable  in  many 
cases  to  make  complete  borings  and  prepare  profiles,  so  that 
bidders  may  know  just  what  they  are  likely  to  encounter. 
There  may  be  a  distinct  understanding  in  the  contract, 
however,  that  the  party  of  the  first  part  will  not  hold  itself 
responsible  for  errors  in  said  profiles  nor  become  liable  for 


78  LABOR  AND  CONTRACTS 

errors.  Similarly,  in  other  work,  as  much  information 
should  be  furnished  as  possible. 

Prospective  bidders  should  be  advised  to  make  a  per- 
sonal examination  of  the  site  of  the  work  and  they  should  be 
notified  that  they  themselves  are  held  responsible  for  the 
accuracy  of  the  information  furnished  by  the  party  of  the 
first  part.  It  should  be  said,  however,  in  this  connection, 
that  courts  of  law  may  not  support  the  party  of  the  first 
part  in  its  effort  to  relieve  itself  of  responsibility,  especially 
where  gross  blunders  have  been  made. 

Each  prospective  bidder  is  given  a  proposal  blank  and 
a  set  of  specifications.  The  proposal  blank  is  a  form  in 
which  each  bidder  inserts  his  prices  and  fills  out  an  agree- 
ment, stating  that  if  he  is  awarded  the  contract  he  will 
accept  it.  The  proposal  also  contains  the  bond  to  secure 
the  agreement. 

The  specifications,  so  called,  are  the  specifications  proper 
for  all  of  the  different  kinds  of  work  to  be  done  under  the 
contract;  and  also  include  a  blank  form  similar  to  that  in 
the  proposal  to  be  filled  in  by  the  successful  bidder,  to- 
gether with  a  contract  bond  to  secure  the  agreement.  As 
soon  as  the  contract  is  duly  executed,  the  proposal  bonds 
all  become  void. 

The  various  articles  in  the  specifications  stating  how  the 
work  is  to  be  done  should  of  course  be  suited  to  the  par- 
ticular undertaking  in  question.  The  "  paste-pot  and 
scissors  method "  used  by  some  engineers  is  not  above 
criticism.  Then,  too,  there  are  engineers  who  have  a  way 
of  writing  what  may  seem  to  be  unnecessarily  strict  speci- 
fications to  protect  themselves  against  contractors  on  the 
lookout  for  loopholes  in  the  agreement.  Contractors  soon 
learn  the  personality  of  an  engineer  and  in  preparing  their 
bids  take  it  into  consideration. 


THE  SURETIES  79 


THE  CONTRACTOR'S    CALCULATIONS 

These  are  made  after  all  the  necessary  information  has 
been  gathered  in.  Many  contractors  employ  an  engineer 
to  make  their  computations  and  to  fill  in  and  submit  the 
bid.  Careful  bookkeeping  of  costs  and  good  system  on  the 
part  of  a  contractor  and  his  engineer  yield  good  financial 
returns.  Many  contractors  who  do  not  take  the  trouble 
to  accumulate  cost  data  think  that  they  know  what  the 
expense  to  them  for  various  kinds  of  work  will  be,  whereas 
they  do  not.  This  is  especially  so  in  such  matters  as  earth 
excavation.  Lack  of  system  in  preparing  cost  data  on  this 
one  item  alone  has  led  to  failures  and  ruin.  The  cost  of  re- 
moving a  cubic  yard  of  earth  is  a  function  of  many 
component  items,  such  as  superintendence,  plowing,  picking, 
shoveling,  carting,  spreading,  blacksmithing,  etc.  The  cost 
of  each  of  these  items  for  various  classes  of  material  should 
be  accurately  known. 

THE   SURETIES 

There  are  four  ways  of  securing  a  proposal  or  contract, 
and  in  addition  there  is  another  form  of  insurance  called 
Contractor's  Liability  Insurance,  all  of  which  will  be 
discussed. 

1.  By  the  Bidder's  Reputation.     This  may  be  said  to 
be  no  surety  at  all  in  the  strict  sense.     In  small  places  and 
for   unimportant   work   sometimes   no   bond   is   required. 
Should  a  bidder  refuse  to  accept  a  contract  awarded  him, 
his  reputation  in  that  community  is  practically  ruined  and 
his  hopes  of  securing  more  work  of  that  or  some  other  kind 
are  practically  destroyed. 

2.  By  Certified  Check.     For  work  of  no  great  magnitude, 
this  method  is  often  followed.     Each  bidder  submits  with 


80  LABOR  AND  CONTEACTS 

his  bid  a  certified  check  in  the  required  amount.  These 
certified  checks  are  returned  to  all  except  the  successful 
bidder  and  his  check  is  returned  when  the  contract  is  exe- 
cuted, the  contract  being  secured  by  a  contract  bond, 
described  under  headings  3  and  4. 

3.  The  Personal  Bond.     Proposals  and  contracts  may 
both  be  bonded  in  this  way,  though  this  kind  of  bond  is  not 
now  in  frequent  use.     The  proposal  may  be  thus  bonded 
and  the  contract  bonded  by  a  surety  company  (see  4). 
The  amount  of  bond  is  stated  in  the  advertisement  and  may 
be  equal  to  or  less  than  the  total  cost  of  work.     Thus,  if 
the  amount  of  the  work  is  $100,000,  each  bondsman,  there 
often  being  two,  makes  affidavit  that  he  is  worth  $50,000 
above  all  his  debts  and  liabilities  of  every  nature. 

Personal  bonds  for  the  contract  may  be  executed  by  the 
same  men  who  acted  as  bondsmen  in  the  proposal  or  they 
may  be  executed  by  others.  When  a  bondsman  signs  a 
proposal  bond  he  is  liable  also  for  the  contract  should  it 
be  awarded  to  the  bidder  for  whom  he  acted  as  bondsman. 
This  obligation,  however,  is  practically  never  taken  ad- 
vantage of,  nor  abused. 

4.  The   Surety    Company   Bond.     The   obtaining   of   a 
surety  company  bond  is  purely  a  matter  of  business  and 
thus  is  much  more  satisfactory  than  the  individual  bond, 
where  obligation  is  always  incurred  and  where  reciprocal 
favors  are  usually  asked  if  no  charge  is  made  for  the  bond. 
A  surety  company  before  acting  as  bondsman  for  a  contrac- 
tor makes  searching  investigation  of  his  financial  standing. 
If  this  is  satisfactory  the  bond  will  be  executed,  for  which 
a  percentage  payment  is  required.     Surety  companies  do 
not  necessarily  make   their   investigation   before  the  exe- 
cution   of    every    bond,  but    use    their    discretion  in  the 
matter.     When  an  applicant  has  once  thoroughly  satisfied 


MAKING  OUT  THE  BID  81 

a  surety  company  of  his  financial  standing  and  ability  as 
a  contractor  he  has  little  or  no  trouble  in  getting  bonds 
whenever  he  wants  them  unless  the  conditions  are  peculiar 
as  to  the  amount  or  other  attendant  circumstances.  Some 
contractors  never  use  individual  bonds  and  others  only  use 
them  on  proposals. 

5.  Contractor's  Liability  Insurance  and  Compensation. 
Insurance  protects  a  contractor  from  suits  for  damages 
arising  from  personal  injury  or  death  to  a  workman  or  to 
an  outsider.  It  thus  protects  a  contractor  from  financial 
failure  and  thereby  protects  the  bondsman  as  well.  A 
surety  company  may  require  a  contractor  to  obtain  liability 
insurance  before  it  will  act  as  bondsman.  There  are 
companies  who  make  this  type  of  insurance  a  specialty. 
The  rates  charged  are  proportional  to  the  risk  run  and  the 
magnitude  of  the  work.  They  are  higher  for  instance 
in  heavy  sewer  work  than  they  are  in  ordinary  excavation. 

Several  of  our  eastern  states  now  have  "  Workmen's 
Compensation  Laws,"  which  provide  for  a  compensation 
to  be  paid  to  an  injured  workman  or  to  his  family  in  case 
of  death.  Such  a  law  has  recently  gone  into  effect  (Jan.  1 , 
1916)  in  the  state  of  Pennsylvania.  Whatever  payment  a 
contractor  may  be  required  to  make  to  purchase  insurance 
against  payments  of  compensation  will  have  to  be  included 
as  one  of  the  overhead  charges  and  will  increase  the  cost 
of  the  work  accordingly. 

MAKING   OUT  THE  BID 

This  is  done  by  the  contractor  or  his  engineer.  All 
blank  spaces  in  the  proposal  are  filled  in,  the  bonds  duly 
executed  and  the  bid  enclosed  in  a  sealed  envelope. 


82  LABOR  AND  CONTRACTS 

SUBMITTING  THE  PROPOSALS 

These  are  submitted  to  the  board  or  commission,  pref- 
erably publicly,  at  the  time  and  place  assigned.  If  the 
bids  are  thus  submitted,  the  clerk  of  the  board  reads  them 
aloud.  If  the  bids  are  by  the  unit  system,  some  minutes 
(or  perhaps  longer)  will  be  required  for  the  engineer  to 
determine  the  order  of  the  bidders.  To  do  this  he  mul- 
tiplies the  price  bid  for  each  item  by  the  number  of  units 
of  work  as  determined  by  the  advertisement  and  then 
sums  up  the  products. 

REJECTION   OF  BIDS 

The  party  of  the  first  part  reserves  the  right  to  reject 
any  or  all  bids.  The  contract  is  awarded  to  the  low 
bidder  providing  he  is  able  to  "  qualify/'  unless  his  bid  is 
seriously  in  excess  of  the  amount  of  the  preliminary  esti- 
mate of  cost.  If,  however,  the  low  bidder  is  not  accept- 
able either  financially,  personally,  or  in  the  matter  of 
experience,  the  next  low  bidder  may  be  awarded  the 
contract  providing  his  bid  is  satisfactory  in  amount.  The 
rejection  of  the  low  bid  is  apt  to  give  rise  to  adverse 
criticism. 

AWARDING  THE   CONTRACT 

The  contract  is  often  awarded  on  the  same  day  on 
which  the  bids  are  received.  Sometimes,  however,  in 
order  that  various  matters  may  be  considered,  such  as  the 
responsibility  of  the  low  bidder  and  the  cost  of  the  work, 
the  awarding  of  the  contract  is  postponed. 


I 


THE  PAYMENTS  85 


EXECUTION   OF   THE   CONTRACT 

The  bidder  to  whom  the  contract  is  awarded  is  required 
to  execute  the  agreement  within  a  specified  time.  To  do 
this  he  must  affix  his  signature  to  the  contract  form  in  which 
all  of  the  prices  have  been  entered  by  the  clerk  of  the  board. 
The  agreement  is  secured  by  individual  bonds  or  a  surety 
company  bond,  which  constitutes  a  part  of  the  contract. 
As  mentioned  before,  a  surety  company  usually  requires 
a  contractor  to  take  out  liability  insurance  before  it  exe- 
cutes the  contract  bond.  After  the  contract  is  signed  and 
the  bond  duly  executed  all  of  the  proposals  together  with 
the  accompanying  bonds  become  at  once  void. 

STARTING  THE  WORK 

Active  operations  must  be  begun  within  a  specified 
number  of  days,  which  is  frequently  ten. 

THE  PAYMENTS 

Monthly  Estimates.  At  the  end  of  each  month  it  is 
customary  in  many  contracts  to  make  a  payment,  but  not 
in  the  whole  amount  of  the  work  done.  Sometimes  10 
per  cent  is  retained  and  sometimes  25.  It  is  not  nec- 
essary for  the  engineer  to  make  an  accurate  determination 
of  the  quantities,  although,  if  to  be  on  the  safe  side  he 
underestimates  the  work,  the  contractor  may  be  dissat- 
isfied, especially  if  his  payroll  and  other  obligations  are 
heavy. 

The  Final  Estimate.  When  the  work  is  satisfactorily 
completed  a  final  estimate  is  prepared  which  is  as  exact  as 
it  is  possible  for  the  engineer  to  make.  The  final  payment 
is  equal  to  the  total  value  of  the  work  less  the  sum  of  the 
previous  payments. 


86  LABOR  AND  CONTRACTS 


EXTRAS 

These,  as  are  well  known,  give  rise  to  dissatisfaction  and 
dispute.  A  contract  should  be  so  framed  that  the  approved 
bill  for  extras  will  be  as  small  as  possible.  Considerable 
care  and  foresight  are  required  on  the  part  of  the  engineer 
in  order  to  provide  in  the  contract  for  contingencies  which 
would  otherwise  be  overlooked.  The  adjudication  of  the 
bill  for  extras  is  difficult  and  disagreeable. 

PENALTY  CLAUSES 

If  the  work  does  not  progress  at  the  proper  rate,  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  engineer  to  give  notice  to  that  effect. 

The  "  penalty  clause  "  in  most  contracts  imposes  a 
certain  charge  per  day  for  non-completion  of  the  work  on 
contract  time.  Provision  is  made  in  the  specifications  that 
the  penalty  be  deducted  from  the  moneys  due  the  contractor 
on  the  final  estimate.  These  clauses  are  apt  to  be  very 
faulty  from  the  legal  point  of  view,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that,  although  written  by  the  engineer,  they  are 
passed  on  by  the  counsel  (see  page  14).  Contractors,  as 
a  rule,  who  know  the  law  in  such  matters  better  than 
engineers,  pay  but  little  attention  to  these  "  penalty 
clauses,"  knowing  that  they  are  nearly  void.  In  order 
to  overcome  the  legal  difficulty  involved  in  a  penalty,  the 
clause  sometimes  states  that  the  charge  made  for  non- 
completion  of  the  work  is  not  to  be  construed  as  a  penalty 
but  as  liquidated  damages.  This  clause  will  also  not  be 
upheld  in  court  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  the  damages 
claimed  are  those  actually  sustained.  Courts  of  law  in 
general  are  opposed  to  hard-and-fast  agreements  made  in 
advance  to  cover  damages  which  may  be  sustained  for 
non-completion  of  the  work  on  time.  If,  however,  these 


FIG.  29. 


87 


PENALTY  CLAUSES  89 

agreements  are  made  so  elastic  as  to  adapt  themselves 
to  the  individual  case  they  will  be  upheld.  This  end  may 
be  attained  by  itemizing  the  damages  as  so  much  per  day 
for  engineering  services,  inspectors,  clerks,  office  expenses, 
etc.  An  agreement  made  with  the  full  understanding  of 
both  parties  to  the  contract,  stating  that,  in  view  of  the 
difficulty  of  estimating  in  advance  the  exact  amount  of 
damages  involved  for  non-completion  of  work  on  contract 
time,  a  certain  sum  per  day  is  agreed  upon  as  the  actual 
liquidated  damages  as  nearly  as  they  can  be  estimated, 
will  sometimes  be  upheld. 


CHAPTER  V 

CONSTRUCTION 

BEGINNING   OF  OPERATIONS 

THE  time  for  starting  the  work  is  stated  in  the  specifica- 
tions. The  time  allowed  is  often  "  not  later  than  ten 
days  after  the  awarding  of  the  contract."  The  necessary 
machinery  must  be  brought  on  the  ground  at  once,  and 
stables,  shanties  and  offices  provided.  If  there  are  any 
suitable  buildings  on  the  land,  they  may,  with  the  en- 
gineer's permission,  be  used  as  stables  and  offices.  In 
order  that  these  buildings  may  be  available  until  the 
completion  of  the  work,  it  is  desirable  that  their  location 
be  such  that  but  little  work  shall  remain  to  be  done  after 
their  removal.  In  parks  remote  from  town,  the  contractor 
is  permitted  to  erect  shanties  for  the  men.  Their  needs 
are  supplied  by  the  company's  store  which,  though  neces- 
sary, needs  regulation  in  its  methods  in  order  that  the 
interests  of  the  men  may  be  protected. 

UNDERDRAINAGE 

Before  any  other  operations  can  be  accomplished  on 
swampy  lands,  the  ground  must  be  drained  in  order  to 
lower  the  water-table.  The  laying  of  tile  drains  should 
be  begun  at  the  outlets,  although  in  order  to  hasten  the 
work  operations  may  be  begun  at  several  parts  of  the 
system.  Where  lines  of  tile  are  laid  without  an  outlet, 
water  will  always  collect  at  the  starting-points  and  this 

90 


FIG.  31. 


91 


SEWERS 


must  be  pumped  out  before  the  work  can  be  joined.  The 
ditching  is  done  by  pick  and  shovel.  The  shovels  may  be 
either  short-handled  or  long-handled.  The  former  are 
generally  better,  as  the  men  are  more  familiar  with  their 
use.  Grade  is  given  by  stakes  driven  on  the  side  of  the 
trench  on  which  the  cut  from  the  top  of  the  stake  is  marked 
in  feet  and  inches.  These  stakes  are  driven  every  50  feet 
except  for  main  ditches,  when  they  should  be  25  feet  apart. 
The  minimum  grade  for  mains  is  1  inch  per  100  feet  and  for 
laterals  3  inches.  The  trenches  are  hollowed  out  on  the 
bottoms  for  the  collars  so  that  the  weight  on  the  tile  may 
not  be  borne  at  the  ends.  Tile  drains  should  be  laid 
below  frost  and  out  of  reach  of  rootlets,  particularly  of 
willows.  Professor  Mapes,  who  is  quoted  by  Colonel 
Waring,  specifies  that  drains  must  be  3  feet  deep  when  20 
feet  apart,  4  feet  deep  when  40  feet  apart,  and  5  feet  deep 
when  80  feet  apart. 

In  backfilling  no  stones  should  be  placed  closer  than  6 
inches  to  the  tile  and  the  subsoil  should  be  thrown  in 
first.  Some  engineers  require  that  in  excavating  the  trench 
the  topsoil  be  placed  on  one  side  and  the  subsoil  on  the 
other.  The  backfilling  is  tamped  in  9-inch  layers  to  secure 
the  best  results. 

SEWERS 

Line  and  grade  are  best  given  by  placing  2-inch  by 
10-inch  planks  transversely  in  the  ground  every  50  feet. 
These  planks  do  not  have  to  be  set  at  any  exact  elevation, 
but  they  should  be  firmly  embedded  and  should  be  of  suffi- 
cient length  so  that  when  the  trench  is  excavated  they 
will  remain  immovable.  The  center  line  can  be  located 
by  driving  a  tack  on  top  of  the  plank.  After  the  excavation 
work  is  partially  finished  a  1-inch  by  2-inch  strip  is  nailed 


94  CONSTRUCTION 


vertically  on  the  plank  with  one  edge  exactly  on  the  center 
line  of  the  trench.  This  strip  must  be  plumb.  Then  by 
the  use  of  a  wye-level,  a  mark  is  made  on  the  side  of  strip 
and  a  nail  driven  a  whole  number  of  feet  above  the  invert 
elevation.  This  is  also  done  at  the  next  50  feet  and  a 
string  stretched  between  the  nails.  The  string  may  thus 
be  stretched  for  some  considerable  distance  at  the  given 
number  of  feet  above  the  invert  grade  line.  Errors  in 
level  work  are  easily  detected.  If  by  reason  of  an  abrupt 
change  in  cut  the  line  strikes  the  board,  or  too  high  or  too 
low  above  or  below  it,  the  string  may  be  lowered  or  raised 
a  foot  or  two.  The  usual  methods  of  pipe-laying  and  in- 
spection should  be  followed  and  will  not  be  discussed  in 
this  connection.  (See  Fig.  30,  page  91.) 

Wet  trenches  can  be  kept  free  from  water  by  use  of  a 
hand-pump  or  the  pulsometer  (see  Fig.  28,  page  83).  In 
park  work  a  hoisting  engine  is  generally  available  and 
connection  may  be  made  between  the  pulsometer  and  the 
boiler  of  the  hoisting  engine,  a  low  fire  being  kept  up 
over  night  by  the  night  watchman.  In  the  morning  the 
trench  will  be  in  a  suitable  condition  for  work. 

The  backfilling  should  be  tamped  in  layers.  If  the 
main  line  trench  is  filled  in  before  the  laterals  are  laid,  a 
plank  is  placed  in  a  vertical  position  against  each  wye 
connection  and  sufficiently  long  to  project  above  the 
ground. 

GRADING 

Staking  Out  the  Work.  Grade  stakes  are  set  at  the  in- 
tersections of  the  cross-section  lines  and  at  every  change 
of  slope.  The  stakes  are  marked  on  the  side  with  the  proper 
cut  or  fill  measured  from  the  top  of  stake  or  they  are  so 
driven  that  their  tops  are  to  grade,  in  which  case  the  tops 


TOPSOIL  STRIPPING  97 

are  marked  with  red  water-proof  crayon.  Stakes  set  to 
grade  are  better  than  cut  or  fill  stakes  and  should  be  used 
wherever  possible  even  though  a  slight  hole  may  be  required. 
Laths  may  be  driven  alongside  to  indicate  their  positions. 
Cut  and  fill  stakes  should  be  marked  in  feet  and  inches  and 
not  in  feet  and  tenths.  For  heavy  fills  long  poles  are 
sometimes  used  with  their  tops  at  the  finished  grade,  thus 
doing  away  with  the  labor  of  setting  more  stakes  after  the 
first  have  been  covered  up.  Where  the  cut  is  considerable, 
the  first  cut  stakes  set  will  not  remain  during  the  excavation 
operations  unless  left  on  little  hillocks,  and  to  do  this  is 
expensive.  Therefore  after  the  first  cut  stakes  have  been 
plowed  up  or  otherwise  removed,  other  stakes  in  the  same 
position  will  be  necessary. 

Topsoil  Stripping.  The  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to 
strip  the  entire  tract  of  its  topsoil,  which  may  be  from  6 
inches  to  a  foot  in  depth.  The  soil  is  piled  in  large  mounds 
with  spiral  drives  up  the  sides  in  positions  where  there  is 
to  be  little  cut  or  fill.  It  would  appear  to  the  layman 
cheaper  to  excavate  a  certain  part  of  the  tract  to  the 
proper  subgrade  and  then  to  cover  it  with  topsoil  stripped 
from  an  adjacent  tract.  This,  however,  may  not  be  the 
case,  and  to  systematize  the  work  and  avoid  confusion,  the 
entire  site  is  stripped  at  the  beginning  of  operations.  In 
large  operations  the  topsoil  is  piled;  in  small  ones  the  top- 
soil  may  be  spread  direct,  thus  saving  the  cost  of  double 
handling  of  the  material.  (Figs.  7,  page  29,  and  10,  page 
37.) 

Excavation  by  Pick  and  Shovel.  The  soil  is  broken 
up  by  picks  and  shoveled  into  dump  carts,  skid  wagons  or 
dump  wagons  by  the  use  of  round-pointed,  short-handled 
shovels.  From  the  engineer's  point  of  view  this  method  is 
the  most  satisfactory,  because  the  subgrade  can  be  dressed 


CONSTRUCTION 


more  accurately  and  because  the  grade  stakes  can  all  be 
preserved  until  the  finished  grade  is  reached.  Carts  are 
used  for  short  hauls  and  wagons  for  long  hauls. 

Excavation  by  Plow  and  Shovel.  By  this  method  the 
soil  is  broken  up  by  the  pick-  or  rooter-plow,  whose  point 
is  much  heavier  and  longer  than  that  on  an  ordinary 
agricultural  plow.  (See  Fig.  26,  page  83.)  Carts  or 
wagons  are  used  as  in  the  preceding  case.  It  is  of  course 
much  cheaper  to  plow  the  soil  than  to  loosen  it  by  hand 
providing  that  the  work  is  of  such  a  character  that  the 
plow  is  available. 

Excavation  by  Grading  Machine.  The  Austin  Excavat- 
ing Grader  is  a  machine  well  adapted  to  topsoil  stripping 
over  broad  areas.  This  machine  is  driven  by  12  horses, 
8  in  front  and  4  behind,  or  by  a  traction  engine.  It  con- 
sists of  a  heavy  plow  which  throws  up  the  soil  on  a  revolving 
belt  which  carries  it  up  and  then  drops  it  in  a  dump  wagon 
driven  alongside.  At  least  two  drivers  are  required  and 
sometimes  four  at  the  beginning  of  operations  in  order 
to  properly  manage  the  horses.  One  man  is  needed  to 
operate  the  plow.  (See  Fig.  11,  page  37.) 

By  Steam  Shovel.  Where  the  cuts  are  very  heavy  and 
the  work  large  in  amount,  it  will  pay  the  contractor  to  use 
a  steam  shovel.  He  will  also  need  a  few  light  locomotives 
and  an  outfit  of  dump  cars,  and  probably  one  or  more 
centrifugal  pumps  to  keep  the  pit  where  the  shovel  is  located 
free  from  water.  The  filling  is  done  from  trestles.  The 
settlement  will  thus  be  much  more  than  by  the  other 
methods  where  the  fill  is  consolidated  by  wheels  and  horses' 
hoofs.  It  is  not  advisable  to  attempt  road  construction 
on  filling  thus  made  until  thorough  settlement  has  taken 
place,  nor  to  lay  sewer  and  water  pipes,  unless  tamping 
has  been  resorted  to. 


DREDGING  99 


Fig.  31,  page  91,  furnished  by  the  Essex  County  Park 
Commission,  shows  a  shovel  making  the  first  cut  in  the 
Middle  Division  of  Branch  Brook  Park.  This  work  was 
necessary  in  order  to  create  an  artificial  lake. 

In  park  work  much  water  is  encountered  in  the  excava- 
tion for  lakes,  which  must  be  removed  through  sewers-  or 
else  by  low-lift  centrifugal  pumps.  Fig.  32,  page  95, 
shows  the  same  work  at  Branch  Brook  Park  in  a  more 
advanced  condition.  This  work  was  particularly  difficult 
by  reason  of  large  volumes  of  surface  and  ground  water. 

By  Dredge.  Where  large  bodies  of  water  must  be 
deepened  some  form  of  dredge  will  be  necessary.  The 
accompanying  illustration  shows  a  clam-shell  dredge  re- 
moving earth  and  vegetable  growths  at  Weequahic  Reser- 
vation, one  of  the  Essex  County  Parks.  This  lake  is 
adjacent  to  the  Newark  Meadows  (salt  marshes)  and 
originally  was  quite  shallow.  It  was  increased  to  a  depth 
of  8  feet  in  order  to  prevent  the  growth  of  water  plants, 
the  excavated  material  being  largely  used  for  surface 
dressing.  (Fig.  33,  page  101.) 

Fig.  34,  page  105,  shows  a  hydraulic  dredge  at  work  at 
Lake  Nokomis,  Minneapolis.  This  dredge  is  mounted  on  a 
timber  hull,  80  feet  long.  It  is  electrically  operated  by 
an  alternating  current  of  2300  volts.  The  main  pump  has 
a  15-inch  suction  and  discharge,  the  pump  revolving  at 
either  250  or  305  R.P.M.  as  desired.  The  two  winding 
shafts  each  run  at  22  R.P.M.  There  are  five  drums  used  as 
follows:  one  each  for  the  right  and  left  spud,  one  each  for 
the  right  and  left  swings,  and  one  for  raising  and  lowering 
the  suction  ladder.  The  ladder  and  cutter  dig  to  a  depth  of 
28  feet.  For  a  greater  depth  a  plain  suction  sleeve  is  used. 
The  dredge  is  provided  with  1600  feet  of  pontoons  with 
pipe  and  also  4000  feet  of  shore  pipe.  The  illustration 


100  CONSTRUCTION 


referred  to  was  furnished  by  Mr.  J.  A.  Ridgway,  Secretary 
of  the  Board  of  Park  Commissioners,  and  the  description 
is  from  the  32d  annual  report. 

By  Drag  Scraper.  For  very  short  hauls,  not  above 
100  feet,  the  drag  scraper  can  be  used  to  good  advantage. 
The  soil  must  first  be  broken  by  plow  or  by  pick.  This 
work  is  very  hard  on  the  horses,  as  they  are  not  allowed 
the  regular  breathing  spell  which  obtains  in  all  other  work 
with  the  exception  of  that  done  by  the  excavating  grader 
and  wheel  scraper. 

By  Wheel  Scraper.  For  hauls  from  100  to  300  feet  the 
wheel  scraper  may  be  used  providing  that  the  ground  is 
level  and  the  cut  is  fairly  uniform.  No  other  class  of  work 
is  as  hard  on  the  horses  as  this,  and  drivers  should  be  in- 
structed to  stop  them  occasionally.  A  bucking  team  must 
sometimes  be  hitched  on  the  pole  in  front  of  the  other 
team  in  order  to  load  the  scraper.  (See  Fig.  27,  page  83.) 

At  Westside  Park,  Newark,  N.  J.,  peculiar  methods 
were  adopted  for  the  excavation  of  an  artificial  lake  by 
reason  of  the  unusual  character  of  the  material  removed. 
Below  a  surface  crust  of  topsoil  about  a  foot  thick  was 
encountered  a  deposit  of  muck  consisting  entirely  of  vege- 
table matter,  absolutely  free  from  sand  and  clay.  The 
excavation  reached  a  depth  of  8  or  9  feet,  though  in  some 
places  the  muck  extended  downward  for  35  feet.  The 
excavated  material  was  used  as  topsoil  and  supported 
phenomenal  growths  after  a  year's  decomposition.  To 
remove  it  three  methods  were  adopted — first,  by  means 
of  derricks;  second,  by  means  of  tram  cars;  and  third, 
by  the  assistance  of  a  traveling  cable  way.  In  Figure  35, 
page  109,  are  shown  three  derricks  with  the  black  muck  in 
adjacent  piles.  This  of  course  had  afterwards  to  be  dis- 
tributed over  the  finished  subgrade.  In  the  background  is 


MUCK  EXCAVATION  103 


seen  a  pile-driver  at  work  on  a  timber  bulkhead  to  support 
the  farther  shore.  This  bulkhead  was  constructed  in 
accordance  with  the  general  description  on  page  54.  In 
the  foreground  is  seen  part  of  a  shore  wall  along  the  nearer 
shore.  The  exceedingly  unstable  character  of  the  soil 
can  be  seen  from  a  close  examination  of  the  houses  in  the 
background,  several  of  which  are  out  of  plumb.  In  Fig. 
36,  page  113,  is  observed  the  second  method  of  excavation, 
as  mentioned  in  this  paragraph.  The  pit  was  kept  free 
from  water  by  means  of  a  pulsometer  as  shown. 

After  the  lake  excavation  was  well  along,  good  upland 
subsoil  was  dumped  over  the  timber  bulkhead  as  described 
in  general  on  page  54.  In  sinking  to  a  condition  of  equilib- 
rium a  considerable  quantity  of  muck  was  thereby  dis- 
placed. This  was  all  removed  by  means  of  a  cable  way 
and  buckets,  since  the  bottom  of  the  lake  had  become 
exceedingly  soft  and  was  incapable  of  supporting  tracks 
or  run- ways. 

The  Essex  County  park  lands  include  a  great  many 
acres  of  originally  poor  and  wet  soils.  These  have  been 
developed  into  lakes  and  water  courses,  thereby  greatly 
enhancing  the  beauty  of  the  parks.  On  the  other  hand, 
by  means  of  judicious  filling,  marshes  and  areas  of  shallow 
submergence  can  be  transformed  into  valuable  park 
property.  An  example  is  seen  in  Figs.  3  and  4  on  pages 
15  and  19,  loaned  by  Commissioner  Cabot  Ward  of  the 
Department  of  Parks  of  the  City  of  New  York.  The 
filling,  as  stated  by  Acting  Commissioner  Valentine,  was 
largely  deposited  under  permits  issued  to  excavators  and 
contractors.  At  the  upper  end  of  Riverside  Park  Extension 
a  good  deal  of  the  fill  was  obtained  from  excavations  for 
the  Catskill  Aqueduct. 

Mr.  G.  A.  Parker,  Superintendent  of  Parks  of  Hartford, 


104  CONSTRUCTION 


Conn.,  has  made  a  careful  study  of  the  time  element  in 
excavation  work  by  shovel,  which  he  has  presented  in  a 
paper  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Connecticut  Civil  Engi- 
neers and  Surveyors'  Association.  His  theory  as  far  as 
the  laborers  are  concerned  is  divided  into  three  parts: 

First.  That  a  shoveler  can  do  maximum  work  when  he 
shovels  5  shovelfuls  in  50  seconds.  It  takes  each  man  about 

5  seconds  for  one  shovelful.     He  will  therefore  work  25 
seconds  and  rest  25  seconds,  and  so  on  throughout  the  day. 
The  rest  periods  will  be  his  absolutely  without  any  inter- 
ference on  the  part  of  the  man  in  charge  of  the  work. 
Experiments  were  made  on  4  shovelfuls  in  40  seconds, 

6  shovelfuls  in  60  seconds,  10  shovelfuls  in  100  seconds, 
also,  the  result  being  that  5  shovelfuls  in  50  seconds  gave 
the    greatest    amount    of   work.     By   this   method,    after 
deducting  5  per  cent,  for  waste  time,  Mr.  Parker  claims 
that  an  average  laborer  can  handle  22f  cubic  yards  in  a 
10-hour  day. 

Second.  That  4  men,  1  working  alone  and  loading 
10  yards  in  a  day,  1  working  in  a  gang  of  5  and  loading 
12  yards,  1  working  in  a  gang  of  10  and  loading  15  yards, 
and  1  working  in  a  gang  of  30  and  loading  22  yards,  are 
equally  tired  at  the  end  of  the  day.  It  is  Mr.  Parker's 
opinion  that  laborers  on  this  class  of  excavation  should 
work  in  gangs  of  30  men  each,  subdivided  into  crews  of 
15,  one  crew  for  every  cart. 

Third.  Each  man  is  required  to  count  his  shovelfuls. 
In  each  50  seconds  he  must  load  5  shovelfuls,  no  less,  no 
more.  The  claim  is  made  that  the  counting  has  a  beneficial 
and  stimulating  effect. 


PILE  DRIVING  107 


PILE  DRIVING 

Wooden  Piles  are  generally  of  spruce,  pine  or  oak. 
Hemlock  does  not  possess  sufficient  elasticity.  If  they  are 
to  be  used  as  columnar  piles  it  is  necessary  that  they  be 
absolutely  straight;  if  as  bearing  piles  they  should  be  fairly 
straight;  and  in  either  case  of  sound  timber.  The  minimum 
diameter  of  the  butts  is  12  inches  and  of  the  tips  8  inches. 
Piles  should  be  sharpened  to  a  point  before  driving  and 
sometimes  it  is  necessary  to  protect  the  point  by  an  iron 
shoe.  The  butts  are  cut  off  square  and  adzed  so  that  a 
wrought-iron  band  may  be  slipped  on  to  protect  the  pile 
in  driving.  Piles  should  be  driven  until  the  movement  is 
not  more  than  one-half  an  inch  under  a  1500-pound  ram 
falling  15  feet  on  the  last  blow. 

Piles  are  used  in  park  engineering  in  constructing  founda- 
tions for  walls,  abutments,  spillways,  etc.  When  used  in 
foundations  it  is  better  to  cap  them  with  concrete  than  to 
attempt  to  construct  a  timber  grillage. 

The  land  machine  traveling  on  rollers  is  the  common 
type.  Fig.  29,  page  87,  shows  a  land  machine  driving  verti- 
cal piles  for  the  construction  of  a  timber  and  earth  bulkhead. 
(See  Figs.  35  and  36  on  pages  109  and  113.)  This  machine 
is  held  upright  by  guy  ropes  attached  to  "  dead  men  "  or 
to  posts  set  in  the  ground.  These  posts  are  sometimes 
twisted  into  the  ground  where  the  soil  is  not  very  hard. 
This  method  consists  in  attaching  a  long  cross-piece  to  the 
post  by  means  of  a  chain.  One  or  two  men  at  each  end  of 
the  cross-piece  by  walking  in  a  circle  and  pressing  downward 
thus  cause  the  post  to  sink  into  the  ground.  The  ease? 
simplicity  and  effectiveness  of  this  method  is  astonishing 
to  those  who  have  never  witnessed  it  before. 

Concrete  Piles  are  of  two  general  types — those  that  are 


108  CONSTRUCTION 


moulded  before  driving  and  those  that  are  moulded  after- 
ward. Those  of  the  first  class  must  be  reinforced.  The 
Chenoweth  and  the  Cummings  and  the  Hennebique  are 
pre-moulded  piles,  and  there  are  also  many  unpatented 
types  of  the  same  class.  Those  of  the  second  class  are  of 
various  forms,  as  the  Simplex,  the  Raymond  and  the 
Pedestal. 

Concrete  piles  are  much  to  be  preferred  when  acting 
as  columns,  resting  on  a  hard  substratum.  They  are  more 
durable  than  wooden  piles  in  ground  which  will  subsequently 
be  dried  out  through  the  absorptive  action  of  adjacent 
brick  sewers  and  are  thus  especially  suited  for  use  in  cer- 
tain park  lands.  They  are  used  to  support  arch  abutments 
and  masonry  retaining  walls. 

MASONRY  WALLS  AND   STEPS 

Retaining  Walls.  One  of  the  most  important  of  the 
practical  matters  to  be  attended  to  is  the  excavation  for 
the  foundation.  It  is  not  necessary  that  the  foundation 
should  extend  down  to  the  bottom  of  frost.  The  heaving 
effect  of  frost  can  be  entirely  eliminated  by  digging  down 
2|  feet  below  the  finished  grade. 

The  foundation  pit  should  be  excavated  true  with  ample 
room  on  the  front  side  for  the  construction  of  a  good  square 
toe.  Skimping  on  the  front  side  of  the  foundation  has 
resulted  in  the  failure  of  many  retaining  walls. 

Walls  for  shore  protection  should  be  founded  on  good 
soil.  The  use  of  spud  piles  is  not  in  general  to  be  recom- 
mended. It  is  better  to  excavate  to  a  hard  foundation. 
The  reason  for  this  lies  in  the  fact  that  excavation  in  front 
of  a  shore  wall  or  sea  wall  permits  fine  sands,  "  liver  " 
and  quick-sands  to  flow  away  from  under  the  foundation, 
thus  endangering  its  stability. 


WATER  PIPES  111 


The  neat  lines  for  retaining  walls  are  obtained  by 
setting  "  A-frames  "  in  position  by  the  help  of  a  transit 
so  that  the  neat  line  on  top  of  the  footing  and  the  neat 
line  under  the  coping  can  be  located  by  stretching  strings 
from  frame  to  frame  or  else  from  a  frame  to  the  finished 
wall. 

In  order  to  secure  a  perfectly  straight  coping,  especially 
in  long  walls  along  city  streets,  it  is  suggested  that  a  tran- 
sit line  be  established  on  top  of  the  wall  before  the  coping 
is  placed,  say  2  inches  back  from  the  neat  line.  This  line 
can  be  marked  by  crow-feet  every  25  feet. 

Retaining  walls  at  the  foot  of  a  slope  are  separated  from 
it  by  a  swale  gutter.  The  coping  is  so  designed  as  to  throw 
the  water  falling  on  it  backward  into  the  gutter,  where  it  is 
collected  by  catch-basins  or  inlets. 

The  matter  of  pointing  is  very  important.  The  joints 
should  be  thoroughly  raked  to  a  depth  of  at  least  1|  inches 
before  the  pointing  mortar  is  applied.  Depressed  joints 
pressed  in  with  a  pointer's  tool  are  much  superior  in  dura- 
bility to  raised  joints.  Only  the  best  Portland  cement 
should  be  used  for  this  purpose. 

WATER  PIPES 

The  practice  of  laying  park  water  pipes  prior  to  the 
completion  of  the  grading  work  has  sometimes  been  re- 
sorted to.  It  has  been  claimed  that  this  is  advantageous 
in  lands  to  be  filled  and  no  doubt  it  is  from  the  contractor's 
standpoint,  as  considerable  digging  is  thereby  avoided. 
The  practice,  however,  is  open  to  serious  objection,  as  in 
some  places  the  pipes  are  almost  if  not  entirely  uncovered 
and  the  driving  over  them  of  wheel-scrapers,  dump  wagons, 
etc.,  frequently  seriously  damages  the  pipe.  Furthermore 
if  the  filling  operations  are  not  completed  before  winter, 


112  CONSTRUCTION 


the  pipes  are  apt  to  freeze  and  burst,  as  they  are  seldom  free 
from  water  in  low  places. 

All  pipe  should  be  thoroughly  tested  before  the  back- 
filling takes  place.  This  can  be  done  by  admitting  city 
water  into  the  system  and  examining  the  pipes  for  leaky 
joints,  pin  holes  and  split  seams.  If  a  higher  pressure  is 
desired  the  pipes  can  be  filled  with  water  and  the  supply 
shut  off.  Then  by  attaching  a  hand  pump  with  pressure 
gauge  to  a  small  nipple  tapped  into  the  pipe  the  pressure 
can  be  raised  as  high  as  desired  with  the  addition  of  but 
very  little  water.  Sometimes  where  no  water  supply  is 
available  sections  of  the  system  must  be  filled  by  means  of 
the  hand  pump.  This  is  a  very  slow  process  for  cast  iron 
pipe  but  not  very  difficult  with  the  smaller  wrought  iron 
sizes.  All  defective  pipe  should  be  removed  and  no  plugging 
of  holes  should  be  permitted. 

Water  hammer  is  very  likely  to  oc.cur  when  new  pipes 
are  filled  with  water.  To  avoid  this  open  up  a  few  lawn 
hydrants,  especially  at  the  lower  parts  of  the  system. 

PATHS 

The  excavation  for  path  foundations  should  be  properly 
formed  and  of  full  depth  over  the  entire  cross-section.  The 
subgrade  is  then  rolled  and  filled  in  with  cinders  to  the  proper 
depth.  These  cinders  should  be  of  the  gas-works  quality, 
sharp  and  clean.  Ashes  will  not  da.  The  cinders  are  then 
wetted  by  means  of  a  sprinkling  cart  and  thoroughly  rolled. 
On  the  cinders  is  placed  the  pavement  proper  whether  of 
gravel,  cement,  asphalt  or  brick. 

Cement,  brick  and  asphalt  pavements  are  laid  between 
2-inch  by  4-inch  scantlings  to  hold  them  in  position.  These 
scantlings  are  held  in  place  by  means  of  stakes.  As  park 
walks  are  usually  curved,  the  scantlings  must  be  curved  to 


CO 


THE  MACADAM  PAVEMENT  115 

fit  the  plan.  This  curving  is  best  done  in  the  field  by  the 
aid  of  the  eye  alone.  By  the  exercise  of  due  care  in  aligning 
and  leveling  the  scantlings,  high-grade  work  can  be  secured. 

The  practice  of  using  round  field  stone  for  gravel  path 
foundations  is  not  to  be  commended,  as  the  stone  works 
up  to  the  surface.  Gravel  paths  should  be  thoroughly 
wetted  and  rolled  before  being  opened  to  the  public. 

Cement  paths  should  not  be  laid  in  freezing  weather  un- 
less the  work  is  carefully  protected  over  night  by  straw. 
If  the  mortar  freezes  it  will  have  to  be  removed.  The 
surface  coat,  usually  1  inch  in  thickness,  should  follow  the 
3-inch  foundation  layer  of  concrete  before  the  latter  has 
had  time  to  dry  out.  A  heavy  rain  falling  on  a  freshly 
laid  cement  walk  washes  out  the  cement  and  leaves  the 
surface  in  a  pitted  and  porous  condition  requiring  removal. 

DRIVES 

The  Macadam  Pavement.  The  first  thing  to  be  done 
in  the  construction  work  is  to  excavate  to  subgrade.  The 
subgrade  should  be  thoroughly  rolled  with  a  10-ton  road 
roller.  All  soft  spots  which  are  revealed  by  the  rolling 
process  should  be  removed  and  the  holes  filled  in  with  good 
earth.  The  subgrade  should  be  parallel  to  the  finished 
surface.  The  foundation  is  then  placed.  Four  inches  of 
2^-inch  broken  stone  are  sufficient  for  a  macadam  and  7 
inches  of  telford  foundation  for  the  better  class  of  roads. 
The  macadam  foundation  should  be  carefully  spread  with 
forks  and  sprinkled  with  coarse  screenings  and  wetted  and 
rolled.  The  telford  foundation  is  prepared  by  placing 
stone  at  least  7  inches  high  in  such  a  way  that  the  edges  are 
upward.  These  stones  must  all  be  placed  by  hand.  All 
points  projecting  higher  than  7  inches  are  napped  off  with 
napping  hammers.  On  top  of  the  foundation  is  placed 


116  CONSTRUCTION 


2  or  3  inches  of  If -inch  stone,  which  is  wetted  and  rolled. 
The  surfacing  consists  of  an  inch  of  screenings  thoroughly 
wetted  and  rolled.  Some  engineers  use  a  little  earth  binder 
between  the  courses  and  even  on  top  of  the  finished  pave- 
ment. 

The  best  water-bound  broken-stone  road  soon  ravels  and 
disintegrates  if  subjected  to  the  destructive  action  of 
rapidly  moving  automobiles  unless  special  preventive 
measures  are  resorted  to.  In  order  to  protect  roads  already 
built  and  construct  new  roads  in  a  more  durable  manner, 
the  following  methods  are  adopted: 

1.  Sprinkling  with  Fresh  Water.  As  carried  on  in  the 
past  this  has  been  very  expensive  and  in  municipal  practice 
has  often  cost  over  $500  per  mile  per  annum.  Mr.  S. 
Whinery,  M.  Am.  Soc.  C.E.,  strongly  advocates  the  use  of 
water  under  improved  conditions  which  he  admits  are 
necessary  to  make  this  method  a  success.  When  the 
watering  is  properly  done  he  is  of  the  opinion  that  the 
wear  from  travel  is  no  greater  than  when  a  light  oil  is 
used.  By  properly  watering  the  pavement  he  states  that 
raveling  can  be  prevented.  Furthermore  there  will  be  no 
dust  if  the  pavement  is  constantly  moist.  Mr.  Whinery 
advocates  the  use  of  power  sprinklers  instead  of  the  old- 
fashioned  water  wagons — sprinklers  which  shall  be  driven 
by  power  and  which  shall  deliver  the  water  under  a  con- 
stant head  regulated  by  a  pump.  The  author  is  of  the 
opinion  that  Mr.  Whinery's  method  of  sprinkling  would 
be  especially  successful  in  parks  where  opportunities  for 
carrying  on  the  work  under  the  most  favorable  conditions 
would  be  possible.  Here  in  the  park  the  sprinkling  would 
be  done  by  an  employe  under  the  supervision  of  a  foreman 
or  superintendent  who  would  make  it  his  business  to  see 
that  the  work  was  carried  on  efficiently. 


THE  MACADAM  PAVEMENT  117 


2.  Sprinkling  with  Salt  Water.     The  results  are  more 
durable  than  fresh-water  sprinkling,  since  the  salts  in  the 
water   are   hygroscopic   in   their   properties.     Should   the 
pavement  become  dry,  the  dust  containing  salt  is  thrown 
into  the  air  and  is  extremely  irritating  to  the  throat  and  eyes. 

3.  Sprinkling  with   Water  and  Calcium  Chloride.     This 
salt  is  strongly  hygroscopic  and  roads  treated  in  this  manner 
have  proved  quite  satisfactory  in  England,  where  the  cli- 
mate is  moist.    The  mixture  to  be  used  is  1  pound  to  1  gallon 
of  water,  using  ^  of  a  gallon  of  the  solution  for  each  square 
yard.     Ten  applications  per  season  are  usually  sufficient. 

Calcium-chloride  treatment  has  been  adopted  by  the 
Metropolitan  Park  Commission  of  Boston  and  by  the 
Department  of  Parks  of  Hartford,  Conn. 

Calcium  chloride  is  also  applied  as  a  dry  powder,  the 
pavements  being  first  swept  by  hand.  The  amount  of 
chloride  used  varies  from  J  to  2J  pounds  per  square  yard. 

4.  Sprinkling  with  an  oil  emulsion  consisting  of  water, 
oil  and  an  alkali.     Vegetable  oils,   crude  petroleum  and 
coal  tar  have  been  used  in  municipal  practice.     Potash, 
soda,  ammonia  and  soap  solutions  are  the  mediums  em- 
ployed to  render  the  oil  miscible  with  the  water.     The 
mixture  is  sprinkled  from  an  ordinary  watering  cart,  though 
a  power  sprinkler  as  described  on  page  119  would  give 
more  satisfactory  results.     The  surface  may  be  left  un- 
covered or  else  treated  with  a  thin  coat  of  sand. 

5.  Treating  the  Surface  with  Light  Oils  and  Light  Tars. 
The  oils  and  tars  are  distributed  preferably  by  pressure  dis- 
tributors.    Those  with  hoods  have  been  employed  to  pro- 
tect pedestrians.     The  palliatives  employed  are  vegetable 
oils,  paraffin  and  asphaltic  petroleums,  tar  oils,  water-gas 
tars,  coal-gas  tars  and  various  patented  compounds. 

This  treatment  is  effective  in  laying  the  dust  for  about 


118  CONSTRUCTION 


6  weeks,  though  disintegration  of  the  surface  may  begin  in 
3  weeks. 

Col.  Spencer  Cosby  describes  the  use  of  oil  in  the 
Washington  parks  as  follows: 

"  All  ruts  and  holes  in  the  surface  of  the  road  are  first 
repaired  by  cleaning  out  the  cavity,  filling  it  with  coarse 
stone,  which  is  covered  with  a  coating  of  hot,  heavy  ? 
asphaltic  oil,  then  sprinkling  a  light  coat  of  screenings  over 
the  oil  and  finally  compacting  the  mass  by  ramming. 
When  all  holes  have  been  repaired,  the  surface  of  the  road 
is  thoroughly  cleaned  with  rattan  brooms,  care  being 
taken  to  remove  all  loose  materials  and  caked  dirt  or  dust 
so  that  the  stone  forming  the  wearing  surface  of  the  road 
shall  be  exposed  and  clean.  When  the  road  is  entirely 
free  from  moisture,  and  during  warm,  dry  weather,  if  possi- 
ble, a  light  asphaltic  oil  is  spread  without  being  heated 
over  its  surface  by  means  of  sprinkling  wagons.  One- 
third  to  one-half  gallon  of  oil  to  the  square  yard  usually 
forms  the  first  application.  To  allow  it  to  penetrate  into 
the  surface,  the  road  is  closed  to  traffic  for  at  least  48  hours 
after  the  first  application.  At  the  end  of  this  time  the 
surface  of  the  road  is  covered  with  a  thin  coating  of  clean, 
coarse,  sharp  sand  or  broken-stone  screenings,  free  from 
dust;  it  is  then  rolled  and  traffic  allowed  to  go  over  it.  A 
cubic  yard  of  sand  or  screenings  usually  covers  from  75  to 
125  square  yards  of  road  surface.  In  this  climate  and  under 
the  conditions  of  traffic  obtaining  on  our  park  roads,  the 
oiling  treatment  described  above  keeps  the  surface  in 
excellent  condition  for  a  year.  It  is  never  dusty  and  is 
muddy  only  when  for  a  few  hours  after  a  heavy  thaw  the 
skid  chains  of  automobiles  tear  up  the  surface.  The  sub- 
sequent passage  of  automobiles  without  chains  soon  irons 
out  the  roadway.  At  the  end  of  the  year  the  surface  of 


THE  MACADAM  PAVEMENT  119 

the  road  is  again  thoroughly  cleaned,  from  J  to  J  of  a  gallon 
of  oil  to  the  square  yard  under  normal  conditions  is  spread 
over  it,  and  the  road  closed  for  48  hours  and  covered  with 
sand  or  screenings  as  before.  This  treatment  is  continued 
from  year  to  year. 

"  Instead  of  handling  the  oil  in  barrels,  we  have  found  it 
much  cheaper  to  buy  it  delivered  in  tank  cars,  from  which 
it  is  unloaded  into  the  sprinkling  wagons.  A  pressure- 
tank  wagon  was  used  to  advantage  for  the  first  application 
of  oil  to  the  road  surface,  but  ordinary  sprinkler  wagons 
with  an  oil-distributing  attachment  and  a  squeegee  fixed 
behind  the  (Jistributor  were  found  more  economical  and 
equally  efficient  in  spreading  the  oil  the  second  year. 
To  insure  coating  all  parts  of  the  road  with  an  oil  layer  of 
uniform  thickness,  men  with  stiff  brooms  followed  the 
sprinkler." 

6.  Surfacing  macadam  pavements  with  asphaltic  oils, 
asphalts,  coal-gas  tars  and  water-gas  tars  by  one  application 
to  form  a  surface  which  endures  for  at  least  one  year. 

The  application  of  the  bituminous  material  must  be 
preceded  by  a  thorough  cleaning  of  the  macadam  road 
which  is  to  be  treated.  Pavements  whose  surfaces  are  of 
the  larger  sizes  of  broken  stone  offer  a  good  bond  for  the 
bituminous  application,  which  may  be  made  by  hand  or  by 
gravity  or  pressure  distributors.  A  type  of  American 
pressure  distributor  is  shown  in  Fig.  37,  page  121. 

Pressure  distributors  seem  to  have  an  advantage  over 
gravity  distributors  in  that  by  their  use  a  better  bond  is 
secured  between  the  macadam  and  the  surface  applica- 
tion. The  explanation  seems  to  be  found  in  the  washing 
away  of  the  dust  film  coating  the  macadam  surface  due  to 
the  high  velocity  of  the  bituminous  material  as  discharged 
from  the  nozzles  of  the  distributor. 


120  CONSTRUCTION 


The  amount  of  tar  or  asphalt  necessary  is  about  i  to  f 
gallon  per  square  yard. 

On  top  of  this  must  be  placed  a  thin  layer  of  sand, 
gravel  or  screenings,  from  7  to  35  pounds  per  square  yard. 
In  England  the  top  dressing  has  been  omitted,  but  in  this 
country  it  is  generally  specified,  since  by  its  use  the  road 
may  be  much  sooner  opened  to  traffic.  Though  rolling  is 
not  absolutely  necessary,  it  greatly  improves  the  surface. 
Fig.  38  shows  a  type  of  road  roller  used  in  the  Boston 
parks. 

For  parks  with  narrow,  winding,  and  steep  drives  or 
paths  a  tandem  roller  is  to  be  preferred.  Fig.  16,  page  49, 
shows  a  special  tandem  roller  built  for  this  purpose  which 
combines  the  short  wheel  base  and  narrow  tread  of  the 
tandem  roller  with  the  high  compression  given  by  the  three- 
wheeled  roller. 

7.  Impregnating   Earth   Roads   with  Crude  Oils.     This 
method  originated  in  California,  where  a  high-grade  asphaltic 
oil  is  plentiful.     The  process  consists  in  loosening  the  soil 
for  a  depth  of  6  inches.     Heated  oil  is  then  applied  and 
thoroughly  kneaded  into  the  soil  by  means  of  a  "  rolling 
tamper."     The  work  can  be  done  only  in  warm  dry  weather. 
Porous  soils  are  better  adapted  to  this  treatment  than  heavy 
ones.     Three  hundred  barrels  per  mile  to  be  applied  once 
each  year  are  sufficient  for  a  12-foot  roadway. 

8.  Impregnating  New  Macadam  Pavements  with  Bitumi- 
nous Materials  by  the  Penetration  Method.     There  are  several 
methods  employed,   for  which  see  Highway  Engineering, 
by  Blanchard  and  Drowne,  to  which  work  the  author  is 
indebted  for  much  of  the  information  here  presented  on 
pavements.     One  of  the  best  is  as  follows: 

The  upper  course  is  built  of  crusher  run  from  IJ-inch  to 
^-inch  size.  On  this  without  further  filling  of  the  voids 


Courtesy  Austin- Western  Road  Machinery  Co. 
FIG.  37. — Pressure  Distributor. 


Courtesy  Buffalo  Steam  Roller  Co. 
FIG.  38. — Pavement  Repairs  at  Boston.  121 


THE  BITUMINOUS  CONCRETE  PAVEMENT  123 

the  bituminous  material  is  applied  hot.  The  rolling  may 
be  done  either  before  or  after  this  application.  Some- 
times if  the  rolling  is  done  afterwards,  the  rolls  are  apt  to 
pick  up  the  surface.  If  they  are  wet  or  oiled  this  difficulty 
will  be  avoided.  About  1|  gallon  of  bituminous  road 
material  is  required  for  each  square  yard.  This  should 
be  applied  in  dry  weather  only,  preferably  when  the  weather 
is  warm,  and  it  must  be  applied  uniformly.  The  bitumi- 
nous materials  used  are  asphalts,  heavy  asphaltic  oils, 
refined  water-gas  and  coal  tars  and  various  combinations 
of  these  materials. 

General  Remark.  The  patrol  system  of  maintenance, 
which  in  municipal  and  state  work  has  not  been  found  so 
successful  in  America  as  in  Europe,  owing  to  governmental 
conditions,  especially  commends  itself  for  parks  where  a 
well-organized  force  is  always  available.  Where  the 
bituminous  material  exudes  to  the  surface  there  should 
be  an  application  of  sand  or  screenings.  Disintegrated 
spots  should  be  removed  and  filled  with  a  mixed  bituminous 
aggregate,  followed  by  rolling. 

9.  Bituminous  Concrete.  The  foundation  layer  should 
be  4  to  8  inches  in  depth  of  broken  stone  or  telford.  At 
Lincoln  Park,  Chicago,  the  bituminous  concrete  was  laid 
as  follows  by  Mr.  Arthur  S.  Lewis.  The  bituminous 
mixture  consisted  of  f-inch  limestone,  torpedo  sand  and 
building  sand  to  which  asphaltic  cement  to  the  amount 
of  8  per  cent,  by  weight  was  added.  It  was  applied  in  a 
layer  2|  inches  deep  and  rolled  with  a  10-ton  -tandem  roller 
by  which  the  bituminous  layer  was  compressed  about  \ 
inch.  After  the  rolling  a  squeegee  coat  of  pure  asphalt 
was  applied,  using  J  gallon  per  square  yard  applied  imme- 
diately after  the  rolling.  On  the  squeegee  coat  was  spread 
a  thin  layer  of  granite  screenings  and  the  rolling  was  re- 


124  CONSTRUCTION 


repeated.  This  pavement  for  boulevard  construction  is 
reported  to  be  giving  excellent  satisfaction. 

A  large  number  of  mixers  are  on  the  market  for  hot 
mixing  of  the  materials  of  both  portable  and  stationary 
types. 

There  are  several  proprietary  bituminous  concrete 
pavements  before  the  public  which  while  giving  good  results 
will  not  be  discussed  in  this  connection. 

The  Brick  Pavement.  This  is  a  type  of  pavement 
well  adapted  for  park  entrances  and  plazas  where  driving 
is  heavy.  It  is  practically  dustless  and  very  durable. 

The  foundation  of  a  modern  brick  pavement  consists 
of  4  to  6  inches  of  concrete  on  which  is  placed  an  inch  of 
sand,  clean,  moderately  coarse  and  free  from  loam  and 
pebbles.  The  sand  is  leveled  off  with  a  template,  which 
gives  it  a  true  surface.  The  pavers  are  required  to  stand 
on  the  brick  already  laid. 

The  sand  filler  has  been  abandoned  and  the  joints  are 
now  filled  with  cement  grout,  coal  tar,  asphalt  or  a  patented 
filler  of  bituminous  nature. 

In  order  to  provide  for  expansion  and  contraction  a 
thin  strip  of  wood  is  placed  between  the  curb  and  the 
pavement.  This  strip  is  afterward  removed  and  the  space 
filled  with  a  bituminous  filler.  Similar  transverse  joints 
are  placed  from  25  to  50  feet  apart. 

The  Concrete  Pavement.  This  type  of  pavement 
might  well  be  employed  for  entrances  or  plazas  or  wherever 
the  driving  is  heavy.  Its  appearance  is  to  be  preferred  to 
that  of  the  brick  pavement  for  park  purposes.  The  author 
believes  that  the  concrete  pavement  will  soon  come  into 
favor  with  park  authorities.  There  are  two  methods 
of  construction,  the  Mixing  Method  and  the  Grouting 
Method. 


CURB  125 


The  Mixing  Method.  A  two-course  pavement  is  the 
more  common  in  municipal  practice  and  will  be  briefly 
described  here.  On  the  finished  and  rolled  subgrade  is 
deposited  a  layer  of  1  to  2f  to  5  concrete  which  should 
be  4  inches  thick  after  tamping.  The  wearing  course 
may  be  made  of  concrete  of  the  proportions  one  part 
cement,  one  part  sand  and  one  part  J-  to  ^-inch  granite  or 
trap  chips.  The  wearing  course  should  be  2  inches  thick. 
The  leveling  off  of  the  wearing  course  is  done  with  a  wooden 
template  resting  on  scantling  set  true  to  line  and  grade. 
Transverse  joints  for  expansion  are  made  every  25  feet. 

The  Grouting  Method.  The  method  used  by  the  Has- 
sam  Paving  Company  will  be  briefly  set  forth.  On  the  rolled 
subgrade  is  placed  a  layer  of  broken  stone  ranging  from 
1J  to  2|  inches  and  rolled  down  to  a  thickness  of  4  inches. 
This  is  grouted  with  a  1  to  3  grout.  The  surface  layer 
consists  of  a  2-inch  layer  of  crushed  trap  poured  with  a 
1  to  2  grout.  On  the  surface  layer  is  thinly  spread  a  thick 
grout  consisting  of  1  part  cement,  1  part  sand  and  1  part 
trap  screenings  the  size  of  a  pea.  This  is  broomed  into 
the  surface  with  stiff  brooms.  The  Long  Island  Motor 
Parkway  pavement  was  constructed  by  the  Hassam  method. 

Concrete  pavements  are  apt  to  be  slippery  in  winter. 
To  prevent  this  they  have  been  covered  with  a  bituminous 
coat  in  which  is  incorporated  small  trap  rock  chips. 

Curb.  Curb  may  be  of  bluestone,  sandstone,  granite 
or  concrete.  In  order  to  preserve  the  alignment  of  a  stone 
curb  a  concrete  foundation  is  used,  the  sand  foundation 
having  become  practically  obsolete.  The  setting  of  the 
curb  should  take  place  before  the  pavement  is  constructed. 

Straight  curb  should  be  carefully  aligned.  It  is  the  cus- 
tom to  set  a  piece  of  curb  every  25  feet  by  aid  of  the  engi- 
neer's measurements  and  then  stretch  a  mason's  line 


126  CONSTRUCTION 


between,    thus    determining    the    line    and    grade    of   all 
intermediate  pieces. 

Brick  drives  must  be  lined  with  curb.  This  is  generally 
fiush  with  the  surface  of  the  pavement.  A  hollow  vitrified- 
block  curb  and  drain  has  recently  been  used  which  is  also 
flush  with  the  surface  of  the  pavement,  which  it  holds  in 
place. 

LIGHTING 

The  proper  methods  of  park  illumination  together  with 
practical  hints  which  should  prove  of  value  to  the  inexperi- 
enced park  engineer  are  presented  on  pages  72  and  73. 
Detailed  descriptions  of  electric,  gas,  acetylene  and  gasoline 
lighting  may  be  found  in  works  on  Illuminating  Engineering. 


INDEX 


Acetylene  lighting,  73 
Advertisement  for  bids,  76 
Architectural  treatment,  36 

Bay  Ridge  Parkway,  41,  70 
Bituminous  concrete,  123 
Bituminous  pavements,  117,  118, 

119,  120,  123 

Blanchard  and  Drowne,  120 
Blue  Hills  Reservation,  10 
Bonds,  contract,  79 
Boston  parks,  6,  9 
Branch  Brook  Park,  6,  99 
Brick  pavement,  71,  124 
Bronx  Park,  8 
Brooklyn  parks,  6,  8 
Bulkheads,  54,  55, 103,  109 

Cableway,  103 

Calcium  chloride  as  a  dust  palli- 
ative, 71,  117 
Cambridge  parks,  10 
Catch  basins,  44,  55,  65 
Central  Park,  2,  6,  7,  21 
Chicago  parks,  9,  123 
City  planning,  9 
Classification  of  parks>  6 
Cole,  H.  J.,  iv 
Compensation  laws,  81 
Concrete  pavements,  124,"  125 
Condemnations,  24 
Contract  work  versus  day  labor,  74 
Contractor's  liability,  81 
Contracts :  ^ 

awarding  of,  82 

bids,  preparation  of,  81 

bonds,  79 


Contracts: 

calculations  for,  79 

examination  of  plans,  77 

execution  of,  85 

extras,  86 

lump  sum,  75 

payments,  85 

penalty  clauses,  86 

proposals,  82 

specifications,  78 

starting  the  work,  85 

sureties  for,  79 

unit  system,  75 

Cosby,  S.,  oiling  drives  at  Washing- 
ton, 118 
Crawford,    A.    W.,    Philadelphia 

parks,  9 
Curb,  71,  125 

Davis,  C.  E.,  8 

Day  labor  versus  contract  work,  74 

Drainage : 

surface,  15,  41,  45,  49,  51,  55,  57, 
65, 

under,  39,  55,  62,  90 
Dredging,  99,  101,  105 
Drives.     (See  Roads.) 
Dry  walls,  58 
Dust  palliatives,  71,  116,  117 

Electric  lighting,  72 
Entrances  for  parks,  66,  67,  68 
Essex  County  parks,  2,  5,  6,  7,  10, 

11,  99,  103 
Excavation.     (See  Grading.) 

Fainnount  Park,  8 


127 


128 


INDEX 


Gas  lighting,  73 
Gasoline  lighting,  73 
Grading,  51,  94 

cableway,  103 

drag  scraper,  100 

dredge,  99,  101,  105 

economy,  104 

grading  machine,  98 

muck  excavation,  100,  109,  113 

pick  and  shovel,  97 

plow  and  shovel,  98 

rooter  plow,  83 

staking  out,  94 

steam  shovel,  32,  91,  95,  98 

topsoil  stripping,  29,  37,  97 

view  of  operations,  109,  113 

wheel  scraper,  83,  100 
Grass  gutters,  15,  49,  51,  57,  70 

Hudson  County  parks,  2 
Hydrants : 

cranes,  61,  63 

lawn,  61,  63 
Hydrographical  survey,  32,  33 

Inlets,  44,  65 

Labor,  74 

Lakes,  52,  99,  100,  105,  109,  113 
Landscape  architecture,  iv,  36 
Lands  suitable  for  parks,  2,  3,  15, 

19,  21,  103 

Lewis,    A.    S.,    bituminous    con- 
crete, 123 
Lighting,  72,  126 

acetylene,  73 

electric,  72 

gas,  73 

gasoline,  73 
Lincoln  Park,  123 
Long  Island  Motor  Parkway,  125 
Lynn  parks,  10 

Macadam  pavement,  71,  115,  120 
Mapes,  Prof.,  tile  drains,  93 
Martin,  T.  S.,  8 


Masonry : 

steps,  58 

walls,  55,  57,  108 
Middlesex  Fells  Reservation,  10 
Minneapolis,  dredging  at,  99,  105 
Muck  excavation,  100,  109,  113 

New  York  parks,  2,  6,  7,  21,  41 
Nokomis,      Lake,      Minneapolis, 
dredging,  99,  105 

Office  buildings,  90 

Oil  emulsion,  117 

Oils,  as  dust  palliatives,  116,  117, 
118 

Olmsted  Brothers,  7 

Olmsted,  J.  C.,  iv 

Organization  for  work: 
architect,  17 
clerical  force,  18 
counsel,  14 

engineering  department,  17 
landscape  architect,  14 
purchasing  department,  14 
superintendent's  department,  18 
title  guarantee  department,  18 

Park  engineer,  his  function,  iv 
Park  movement,  its  magnitude,  iii 
Parker,  G.  A.: 

efficiency  in  grading  operations, 
103 

sod  steps,  59,  61 
Parks: 

acquisition  of  property,  23 

actual  results,  7 

classification,  6 

earning  capacity,  6 

economic  advantage,  5 

future  possibilities,  13 

lands,  selection  of,  3,  15,  19,  21, 
103 

organization  for  work,  14 

social  need,  1,21 

surveys,  23 

the  obtaining  of,  10,  14 


INDEX 


129 


Paths,  62,  112 

asphalt,  70 

brick,  70,  112 

cement,  67,  112 

crowns,  67 

foundations,  G2,  65,  69,  112 

gravel,  69 

scantlings,  112 

wings,  65 
Pavements : 

bituminous  concrete,  123 

bituminous  macadam,  120 

brick,  71,  124 

concrete,  123,  124 

dust  palliatives,  116 

macadam,  71,  115,  120 

surfacing  with  light  oils,  117 

surfacing  with  heavy  oils,  119 
Philadelphia  parks,  5,  8,  22 
Pile  bulkhead,  54,  55,  103,  109 
Pile  driver,  87 
Piles,  53,  55,  107 
Playgrounds,  9,  22 
Plow,  rooter,  83 
Ponds,  52 

Pressure  distributor,  119,  121 
Prospect  Park,  6,  8 
Pulsometer,  83,  94 
Purchasing  of  lands,  23,  24 

Retaining  walls,  55,  57 
River  fronts,  10 
Riverside  Park,  15,  19,  103 
Roads,  70,  115 

asphaltic  oils,  surfacing  macadam 

pavements  with,  119. 
bituminous  concrete,  123 
bituminous    materials,    impreg- 
nating  new   macadam   pave- 
ments with,  120 
brick  pavements,  7,  124 
calcium  chloride,  sprinkling  with, 

117 

concrete  pavements,  124 
crude   oils,   impregnating   earth 
roads  with,  120 


Roads,  light  oils  and  light  tars, 
treating  surface  with,  117 

oil  emulsion,  sprinkling  with,  117 

oiling,  119,  121 

rolling,  49,  120,  121 

salt  water,  sprinkling  with,  117 

water,  sprinkling  with  fresh,  116 
Roa  Hook  gravel,  69 
Rollers,  road,  49,  120,  121 

Scrapers : 
drag,  100 
wheel,  83,  110 
Sewers,  43,  93 
combined,  48 
grade  and  line  for,  91,  94 
sanitary,  48 
storm  water,  44 
Shanties  for  laborers,  90 
"  Sherwood  Forest,"  Philadelphia, 

5 

Sod  steps,  59,  61 
Specifications,  78 
Stables,  90 

Steam  shovel,  32,  91,  95,  98 
Steps,  58,  59 
Sureties  for  contracts,  79 
Surface  drainage,  15,  41,  45, 49, .51, 

55,  57,  65 
Surveys : 

hydrographical,  32 
property,  23 
topographical,  25 

Tars  for  roads,  117,  118,  119 
Telford  pavement,  71,  115 
Tile,  39,  90 

Topographical  survey,  25 
Topsoil  stripping,  29,  37,  97 
Turbidity  of  first  wash  in  storm 
sewers,  47 

Underdrainage,  39,  55,  62,  90 

Valentine,    Commissioner,    River- 
side Park,  103 


130 


INDEX 


Walls,  55,  57,  108 

Walnut  Lane  Bridge,  frontispiece 

Ward,  Cabot,  52,  103 

Waring,  Col.,  40,  93 

Washington   parks,   treatment   of 

roads  in,  118 
Water  meters,  62 
Water  pipes,  61,  111 

hydrants  for,  61,  63 

testing,  112 

water  hammer  in,  112 


Water  supply,  its  protection,  8 
Weequahic  Reservation,  5,  99 
Weir  measurement,  33 
Westside  Park,  Newark,  100 
Wheel  scraper,  83,  100 
Whinery,  S.,  sprinkling  with  fresh 

water,  116 

Wissahickon  Bridge,  frontispiece 
Wissahickon  Park,  8 
WTright,  W.,  9 


14  DAY  USE 

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